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Can the Digital Economy Promote the Upgrading of Urban Environmental Quality?

Author

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  • Senhua Huang

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, China
    Department of International Economics and Trade, School of Economics and Management, Shaoyang University, Shaoyang 422000, China)

  • Feng Han

    (Department of Economics, School of Economics, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China)

  • Lingming Chen

    (Department of Economics and Statistics, School of Economics and Management, Xinyu University, Xinyu 338004, China)

Abstract

As the core of economic development, the digital economy plays an essential role in promoting urban environmental quality. In this study, we constructed a comprehensive indicator system using two dimensions, i.e., the internet and digital finance, to measure the development situation of the urban digital economy, and we used principal component analysis to assess it. From the three perspectives of ecological environment state, ecological environment pollution degree, and ecological environment governance ability, the entropy method was used to measure the quality of the urban environment. On the basis of panel data from 275 cities (prefecture-level and above) in China from 2011 to 2019, we empirically analyzed the impact of the digital economy on urban environmental quality using the two-way fixed effect model and spatial Dubin model. The research shows that the digital economy significantly promotes urban environmental quality upgrades. This conclusion still holds when considering endogeneity. This effect is mainly achieved by promoting technological innovation, optimizing the industrial structure, and enhancing market competition. Further research demonstrated that the digital economy does not significantly impact the improvement of environmental quality in small- and medium-sized cities, but has a positive effect on environmental quality upgrading in large cities. The development of the digital economy promoted urban environmental quality upgrading in the region. However, the development of the digital economy has no significant impact on environmental quality upgrading in surrounding areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Senhua Huang & Feng Han & Lingming Chen, 2023. "Can the Digital Economy Promote the Upgrading of Urban Environmental Quality?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:2243-:d:1047809
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhenxiang Cao & Liqing Peng, 2023. "The Impact of Digital Economics on Environmental Quality: A System Dynamics Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    2. Senhua Huang & Lingming Chen, 2023. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on the Urban Total-Factor Energy Efficiency: Evidence from 275 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Jinqi Su & Changhong Dong & Ke Su & Lin He, 2023. "Research on the Construction of Digital Economy Index System Based on K-means-SA Algorithm," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    4. Lifang Zhang & Yuexu Zhao, 2023. "Research on the Coupling Coordination of Green Finance, Digital Economy, and Ecological Environment in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-16, May.
    5. Dong Guo & Lin Li & Lu Qiao & Fengyu Qi, 2023. "Digital economy and consumption upgrading: scale effect or structure effect?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4713-4744, December.
    6. Senhua Huang & Wenzhong Ye & Feng Han, 2023. "Does the Digital Economy Promote Industrial Collaboration and Agglomeration? Evidence from 286 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-24, October.

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