数字经济发展与城市区域创新——来自我国281个城市的经验证据

Digital Economy Development and Innovation in Cities and Regions: Empirical Evidence from 281 Prefecture Level Cities in China

基于北京大学企业大数据研究中心的中国城市创新区域指数和281个地级市2011—2017年的经济发展数据,考察我国数字经济发展与城市区域创新之间的关系。结果表明:数字经济发展对中国城市的区域创新具有显著正向影响,且在一系列稳健性检验后结论依然成立;政府公共科技投入、市场金融信贷投资和社会人力资本提升是数字经济促进城市区域创新的主要影响机制;异质性分析表明,数字经济发展对创新的积极效应在教育水平较低、城市规模较小、市场化程度较低的城市更为显著;数字经济对城市区域创新的促进作用具有显著的空间外溢性特征。本文的理论和实证分析进一步丰富了数字经济发展促进区域创新的机制效应研究,为中国数字经济推动区域高质量发展提供了经验证据。

Based on the China’s urban innovation regional index constructed by the enterprise big data research center of Peking University, this paper empirically investigates the causal relationship between digital economy development and urban regional innovation by using the economic development data of 281 prefecture level cities in China from 2011 to 2017. It is found that the development of digital economy has a significant positive impact on the innovation of China’s urban areas, the conclusion being still valid after a series of robustness tests;government’s investment in public science and technology, market financial credit investment and social human capital promotion are the main influence mechanisms of digital economy to promote China’s urban regional innovation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect of digital economy development on innovation is more significant in cities with low level of education, smaller cities and lower degree of marketization;the promotion of innovation in urban areas by the digital economy is characterized by significant spatial spillovers. This research not only enriches the theoretical mechanism of the impact of digital economy development on urban regional innovation, but also provides theoretical support and empirical experience for China’s digital economy to promote high-quality development.