The impact of the digital economy on food system resilience: Evidence from China

Despite the widespread influence of the burgeoning digital economy on agricultural productivity in recent years, China’s food system confronts numerous challenges. Notably, research exploring the digital economy’s impact on food system resilience remains scarce, and the pivotal role of industrial agglomeration in this context remains unclear. Therefore, this article is based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021, this paper empirically examines the direct effect, the mechanism of action, and the spatial spillover effect of the resilience of a digital economy-enabled food system using a double fixed-effects model, mediated-effects model, and spatial econometric model. The results show the following: (1) The resilience of China’s urban food system shows obvious spatial differences, but the overall trend in improvement requires attention. (2) The development of a digital economy has a facilitating effect on the level of resilience of the food system, and industrial agglomeration induces an intermediary effect. (3) The digital economy has a significant positive spatial spillover effect on the resilience of the food system; i.e., the digital economy can improve the resilience of the food system in the region and the neighboring regions. Accordingly, policy recommendations have been put forward to improve infrastructure construction and promote the development of digital villages; strengthen the construction of industrial agglomerations and promote the enhancement of the quality and efficiency of industries; and promote the development of regional linkages and build a solid foundation for food security.