Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Economics and Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1529946
This article is part of the Research Topic Environmental Resilience and Sustainable Agri-food System Management View all 8 articles

Digital economy, green innovation and regional resource allocation efficiency： Evidence from 257 cities in China

Provisionally accepted
Li Jiang Li Jiang 1,2Min Zhang Min Zhang 1Shihui Hu Shihui Hu 1*
  • 1 School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha, China
  • 2 School of Economics and Management, Xiangnan University, Chenzhou, Hunan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The digital economy is reshaping economic structures and resource flows, but its role in enhancing resource allocation efficiency within the framework of green development has not yet been fully explored. This paper analyzes panel data from 257 Chinese cities to investigate how the digital economy influences regional resource allocation efficiency, with a focus on the mediating role of green innovation. The results show that the digital economy significantly improves resource allocation efficiency, with nonlinear effects characterized by increasing marginal returns. Mechanism tests reveal that the digital economy optimizes resource allocation by fostering green innovation. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that in eastern regions and areas with strong environmental regulations, the digital economy promotes both substantive and strategic green innovations, leading to higher efficiency. In midwestern regions, only substantive green innovation has a significant effect, while regions with weak environmental regulations experience less pronounced impacts. This study offers insights into leveraging green innovation to achieve efficient resource allocation and strengthen environmental resilience in the digital era.

    Keywords: digital economy, Resource allocation efficiency, substantive green innovation, strategic green innovation, environmental regulation, Green development

    Received: 18 Nov 2024; Accepted: 02 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Jiang, Zhang and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shihui Hu, School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.