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This study investigates the impact of the development of the digital economy (DE) on coal consumption and the underlying mechanisms using Chinese provincial data over the period 2011-2022. The results demonstrate that DE development is correlated with reduced coal consumption. When the DE development increases by one standard deviation, the reduction in coal consumption is 0.1938. The underlying mechanism is attributed to the DE facilitating the financial technology development and technological innovation's quality, which are conducive to reducing coal consumption.
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Pesticide overuse has been an increasing concern in China. Digital technology, such as smartphone access, is considered an effective way to promote proper use of pesticides. Using the Chinese Extended Family Database (2015, 2017, and 2019), this study empirically examines the impact of smartphone access on pesticide use intensity among Chinese farmers. The results show a "double-edged sword" effect of smartphone access on pesticide use intensity. In rural areas with a low level of digital economy, greater smartphone access led to higher pesticide use intensity. In rural areas with a high digital economy level, smartphone access reduced pesticide use intensity. The study results show that reducing pesticide use intensity through digital technology is not a linear process but a complicated one that involves social and engineering integration, including an increase in access to smartphones, development of a regional digital economy, reconstruction of agricultural extension systems, and enhancement of the capacity of digital technology.
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The improvement of workers' employment quality is an important manifestation of high-quality economic development. Based on 13,969 valid samples from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data, the paper examines the impact of urban digital economy development level on individual employment quality from a micro perspective using a multilevel regression model. The study finds that the level of urban digital economy development significantly promotes individual employment quality. For every 1 unit increase in the level of urban digital economy development, the quality of individual employment will increase by 1.033 units. And air quality positively moderates the relationship between urban digital economy development level and individual employment quality, i.e., in cities with good air quality, the urban digital economy development level has a more important role in promoting the quality of individual employment. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that the level of digital economy development in cities has a more pronounced effect on the employment quality of males, younger workers (40 years old and below), and party members. To be more specific, every increase of one unit in the development level of urban digital economy will increase the employment quality by 1.649, 0.787, and 0.897 units, respectively. The above findings are useful for the formulation of policies to achieve high quality of employment and the implementation of environmental management plans.
RESUMEN
Although the digital economy has become a new driving force for development worldwide, it is still unclear how digital economy development affects green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE). Using panel data from 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2018, this study empirically analyzes the effect of digital economy development on GTFEE by adopting a dynamic panel model, a mediation effect model, a dynamic threshold panel model, and a spatial Durbin model. The empirical results show that digital economy development has a significantly negative direct effect on GTFEE. The digital economy can impact GTFEE by the mechanisms of electrification, hollowing out of industrial scale, and hollowing out of industrial efficiency. Neither innovation nor environmental regulations significantly change this negative impact. The dynamic threshold panel model shows a nonlinear relationship between digital economy development and GTFEE, which indicates that the effect of digital economy development on GTFEE significantly inverts from negative to positive as the digital economy develops. In addition, GTFEE has a significantly positive spatial correlation, and the digital economy has a positive spatial spillover effect on GTFEE.