The Impact of New Digital Infrastructure on Resource Misallocation

Accelerating the construction of new digital infrastructure (NDI) is a critical measure for enhancing resource allocation efficiency and promoting high-quality economic development. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2011–2020, this paper empirically examines the impact of NDI on regional resource misallocation. The results reveal that NDI significantly exacerbates labor misallocation across regions while alleviating capital misallocation. These findings remain robust across multiple robustness checks and instrumental variable estimations. Regional analysis further demonstrates that the exacerbating effect on labor misallocation is more pronounced in the eastern and central regions, whereas the alleviating effect on capital misallocation is observed only in the western region. Extended analysis indicates that higher levels of human capital can mitigate the labor misallocation induced by NDI. Additionally, spatial spillover analysis shows that NDI improves labor allocation in neighboring regions but worsens capital allocation in those areas, and these spatial spillover effects exhibit sectoral heterogeneity. These findings provide important policy implications for maximizing the effectiveness of NDI in optimizing resource allocation.