The Impact of Digital Economy Development on Industrial Restructuring: Evidence from China

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze how the digital economy affects industrial restructuring and examine the mediating role of the relevant factors. Based on the analysis of the effect mechanism of the digital economy development on industrial restructuring, this paper constructs an improved measuring index system of digital economy covering digital infrastructure, digital industrialization, and industrial digitalization, and measures regional digital economic growth based on provincial panel data in China from 2013 to 2020 by using the entropy TOPSIS method, empirical analyses on the impact of the digital economy on industrial restructuring, and verifies the mediating effect of human capital, technological innovation, and financial development in this process. Research findings are as follows: (i) Digital economic growth demonstrates a considerable positive effect of the speed, efficiency of industrial restructuring, and industrial structure rationalization. (ii) Digital economy indirectly boosts industrial restructuring by affecting human capital, technological innovation, and financial development. The findings in this study are of theoretical significance to interpret the effect of digital economic growth on industrial restructuring, facilitating relevant economies in the decision-making of industrial restructuring and upgrading.