Digital infrastructure construction drives green economic transformation: evidence from Chinese cities

Abstract

Existing studies mostly discussed the impact of transportation infrastructure on the economy and society. However, the environmental performance of digital infrastructure has been discussed less. This study explores the effect of digital infrastructure construction on green economic transformation based on theoretical analysis. Using the Broadband China policy as a quasi-natural experiment, the authors construct a staggered difference-in-difference (DID) model and empirically assess the effect of digital infrastructure on green economic development with panel data of Chinese 271 cities from 2003 to 2019. First, the main results indicate that digital infrastructure can enable green economic performance in Chinese cities. The results remain robust after considering the heterogeneous treatment effects, placebo test, and excluding the effect of other policies. Second, the heterogeneity results indicate that green economic performance in eastern and economically developed cities benefits more from digital infrastructure construction. Finally, by enhancing energy efficiency, fostering digital industrialization, and stimulating green technology innovation, the digital infrastructure indirectly contributes to the urban green economy development. This study put forward some constructive policy suggestions to promote green economic transformation from the digital infrastructure construction perspective.