The Influence of the Internet on Regional Economic Development—An Empirical Study Based on China’s Provincial Panel Data

Abstract

With the rapid development of the digital economy, the level of Internet development has become increasingly important to the national economy. The development and application of the Internet have brought new impetus to economic development. At present, China’s economic growth is slowing down. Finding new support points to maintain high-quality economic growth has become the focus of current research. Therefore, at the moment of Internet economic development, it is of great significance to study whether the Internet development level can promote economic development, how to promote economic development and the size of its influence on economic development. Based on this, this paper constructs an indicator system for evaluating the Internet development level from four dimensions: Internet popularization level, information infrastructure development level, scientific and cultural development level, and industrial development and application level. With the Internet development level as the core explanatory variable, this paper establishes a fixed effect model based on the Hausman test by analyzing China’s provincial panel data from 2010 to 2019. The research results show that the Internet development level in all regions of China has risen from 2010 to 2019. The Internet development level has a promoting effect on economic growth, and there are regional differences. The promoting effect on the eastern region is higher than that in the central and western regions. The Internet development level has a significantly higher role in promoting the per capital GDP in the eastern region than in the central and western regions. It is expected to provide valuable ideas for the government to fully harness the role of the Internet in promoting economic development.