智慧城市建设能促进绿色发展吗?——基于“准自然实验”的证据

Can Smart City Construction Promote Green Development?Evidence Based on“Quasi Natural Experiment”

基于2006—2018年我国156个地级市的面板数据,将2012年智慧城市建设全国性试点政策作为一次准自然实验,通过PSM-DID方法检验智慧城市建设的绿色发展效应和影响机制。研究结果表明:国家试点的智慧城市政策显著提高了我国城市的绿色全要素生产率;就地区异质性而言,相比于中西部区域,试点智慧城市政策对东部区域城市绿色发展的效果更加明显;机制检验显示:试点智慧城市政策在全国和中西部地区分别通过产业结构和技术创新产生绿色发展效应,在东部地区则通过人力资本和基础设施建设实现绿色发展,并据此为我国新型智慧城市建设提出政策建议。

Based on the panel data of 156 prefecture level cities in China from 2006 to 2018,the national pilot policy of smart city construction in 2012 was regarded as a quasi natural experiment to test the green development effect and impact mechanism of smart city construction through propensity score match-difference in difference(PSM-DID)method.The research results show that the national pilot smart city policy has significantly improved the green total factor productivity of Chinese cities.In terms of regional heterogeneity,compared with the central and western regions,the effect of the pilot smart city policy on the green development of cities in the eastern region is more obvious.The mechanism test shows that the pilot smart city policy generates green development effects through industrial structure and technological innovation in the whole country and the central and western regions respectively,and realizes green development through human capital and infrastructure construction in the eastern region,and accordingly puts forward policy recommendations for the construction of new smart cities in China.