Digital Economy Policies and Fisher Household Vulnerability: Evidence from China’s Fisheries Sector

Abstract

The formulation of effective digital economy policies is crucial for advancing high-quality industrial development in the digital era. This study employs panel data from 29 Chinese provinces over the period of 2011–2023 and adopts a Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach to empirically assess the impact of digital economy policies on fisher household vulnerability. The results show that these policies significantly alleviate household vulnerability and enhance risk resilience. Mechanism analysis reveals that digital economy policies reduce fisher vulnerability mainly through enhancing fishery digital enabling capacity and fisher digital literacy. Fishery digital enabling capacity significantly promotes information access, industrial digitalization, and operational efficiency within the fishery sector, while fisher digital literacy further strengthens individual adaptive capacity. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that while digital economy policies significantly reduce fisher household vulnerability in both coastal and inland provinces, the effects are stronger in coastal regions. In addition, the policies exhibit a stronger vulnerability mitigation effect in areas with higher policy intensity relative to those with lower intensity. These results underscore the importance of reinforcing digital economy policy frameworks, enhancing policy coordination and intensity, and strengthening digital capacity-building to mitigate fisher household vulnerability, improve adaptive resilience, and foster the sustainable and high-quality development of the fisheries sector.