Informatization Construction and Urban Total Factor Productivity: Empirical Analysis Based on China’s Smart City Pilot Policy

In theory, informatization construction can optimize resource allocation and improve total factor productivity through changing urban organizational structure and production mode. Based on the quasinatural experiment of smart city pilot policy, this paper employs kernel propensity score matching and difference-in-difference (KPSM-DID) method to test whether it improves the urban total factor productivity with data of China’s 171 cities during 2006–2016 period. The results show that: (1) On average, the smart city pilot policy plays a significant role in promoting the city’s technical change (TC), and the impact on efficiency change (EC) is positive but not significant. Their coupling effect promotes the growth of urban total factor productivity. (2) Government financial expenditure has significant negative influence on total factor productivity, while industrial structure and infrastructure have significant positive effects on total factor productivity. (3) Heterogeneity research shows that the smart city pilot policy is more conducive to promoting the growth of total factor productivity in eastern cities and high-innovation cities, but it is difficult to improve the level of total factor productivity in western cities and low-innovation cities. (4) From the various forms of robustness tests, it can be seen that the smart city pilot policy has significantly promoted the growth of urban total factor productivity in both statistical and economic sense.