数字经济发展能否“稳外资”?

Can the Development of Digital Economy “Stabilize FDI”?

本文利用2011—2018年中国地级市面板数据,探讨了数字经济对区域“稳外资”的影响及其作用机制,并讨论了数字经济在快速发展过程中产生的风险问题以及纠偏机制。研究结果表明,城市数字经济发展水平越高,对FDI的吸引力度就越大;机制检验发现,数字经济通过消费扩张效应、拓宽融资渠道和技术创新驱动效应对FDI产生影响;进一步地,研究发现数字经济的快速发展加大了区域FDI差距,呈现出明显的“马太效应”,而完善的知识产权保护制度是防范风险的有效纠偏措施。政府应以新型基础设施建设与营商环境构建为重要抓手,加快城市数字化建设进程,但也要高度警惕数字经济产生的区域发展不平衡问题,以发挥数字经济在构建国内国际双循环新发展格局中的引擎作用。

This research uses 2011-2018 panel data at the city level in China as a research sample to explore the impact and the mechanism of the digital economy on stabilizing foreign direct investment. Besides, the article further discusses the risk issues arising from the rapid development of the digital economy and the corrective mechanism to deal with digital risks. The research results show that the digital economy has a positive effect on attracting FDI to cities. The mechanism test finds that the digital economy has an impact on FDI through the effects of consumption expansion, broadening of financing channels, and technological innovation driving effects. Further, the study finds that the rapid development of the digital economy widens the regional FDI gap, showing an obvious “Matthew effect”. Furthermore, we found that establishing a sound intellectual property protection system is an effective corrective measure to prevent digital risks. The government should take the construction of new infrastructure and the business environment as important measures to speed up the process of digital construction of cities. More importantly, the government should pay close attention to the imbalance of regional development produced by the digital economy. Only in this way can the digital economy play its role as an engine in establishing of a “dual circulation” development pattern.