How Does the Digital Economy Drive the Optimization and Upgrading of Industrial Structure? The Mediating Effect of Innovation and the Role of Economic Resilience

Abstract

The digital economy (DE) has become a major driving force behind the optimization and upgrading of industrial structures (ISOU), but research on its driving mechanisms has yet to be verified. To this end, the driving influence of the DE on ISOU is targeted and the role played by economic resilience (ER) and innovation is explored. Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, the driving influence of the DE on ISOU is analyzed using a two-way fixed-effects model. This empirical study finds that the DE has a positive driving effect on both industrial structure advancement and rationalization and that the driving effect is still significant after the addition of control variables and the robust-type test with one period of lag. The DE presents regional differences in ISOU, with the driving effect of the DE on the industrial structure advancement in the eastern region having a more significant performance than that in the central and western regions and the driving influence on the rationalization of the industrial structure in the eastern and western regions exceeds that in the central region. The impact of the DE on ISOU has a mediating role through innovation. ER has a moderating role in the process and innovation, as a partial mediator, also has a threshold effect. Finally, based on the research and discussion, conclusions and countermeasure recommendations are presented.