How Can the Digital Economy Promote Rural Industrial Revitalization? Evidence from Production Networks

The digital economy has become an emerging driver of rural industrial revitalization. Based on an input-output model and a production-network framework, this study first constructs time-series input-output tables for the digital economy and urban-rural industries from 2002 to 2021. It then identifies key recipient nodes, urban-rural disparity paths, and priority optimization paths of digital value flows. The results show that urban-rural disparities in digital empowerment have narrowed, but the digital divide between urban and rural industries remains substantial. The direct integration of the digital economy into rural industries is still limited, whereas urban-rural industrial integration plays an important mediating role. At the same time, the urban-rural disparity paths in digitally enabled rural industrial revitalization are mainly concentrated in rural capital allocation, asset services, circulation systems, basic agricultural production, and agricultural science and technology services. The counterfactual simulations show that prioritizing the direct embedding of the digital economy into rural manufacturing, agricultural value chains, and public-service sectors, while improving coordinated transmission between urban and rural industries, can strengthen the overall empowerment effect. These findings provide empirical support for more precise and targeted policies to promote rural industrial revitalization through the digital economy.