Study on the Impacts of City Digital Economy on Green Total Factor Productivity

Based on existing studies of the digital economy and green total factor productivity, combined with sustainable development, network effect theory, information asymmetry theory and new economic geography, this paper analyzes the impact mechanism of the digital economy on green total factor productivity. Using the entropy weight method, this study measures the digital economy development of 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2013 to 2022. The super‑efficient SBM‑GML model is used to calculate green total factor productivity and its spatiotemporal trends. Fixed effects and spatial Durbin models are constructed to test the impact empirically. Results show that: (1) China’s urban digital economy has been improving overall with a converging gap between cities, but significant regional heterogeneity still exists. (2) Urban green total factor productivity shows a fluctuating upward trend, driven by technological progress and efficiency changes, but their synergy is not yet formed. (3) The digital economy significantly promotes green total factor productivity with regional and developmental heterogeneity, especially in coastal areas and high‑productivity regions. It functions through upgrading industrial structure and improving human capital.