数字经济、空间溢出与区域创新能力提升——基于中国274座城市数据的异质性研究

Digital Economy, Spatial Spillover and Regional Innovation Capability Enhancement

坚持创新驱动是实现经济高质量发展的重要抓手,在数字化时代考察数字经济对区域创新的影响具有十分重要的理论与现实意义。利用2011-2019年中国274座城市的面板数据,探究数字经济对区域创新能力的影响及其空间溢出效应。结果表明:数字经济能够显著促进区域创新能力提升,且该结论具有很好的稳健性。从区位特征来看,数字经济对东部城市创新能力提升的正向效应更明显;从城市规模来看,大城市与特大城市是数字经济促进创新能力提升的关键所在;从城市等级来看,直辖市、省会城市、副省级城市以及计划单列市是数字经济促进创新能力提升的重要着力点。机制识别检验发现,创业活跃度与产业结构升级是数字经济影响区域创新的两个主要渠道。门槛效应研究显示,随着产业结构进入更高的层次,数字经济对区域创新能力提升的边际效应递减;随着政府创新偏好进入更高的层次,数字经济对区域创新能力提升的边际效应递增。进一步的空间计量分析表明,数字经济不仅会提升本地城市的创新能力,对周边城市创新能力的提升同样具有明显的促进作用,尤其是对于东部城市,该效应更强。

Adhering to the innovation-driven development strategy is an essential starting point for achieving high-quality economic development. It is of great theoretical and practical significance to investigate the impact of the digital economy on regional technological innovation in the digital economy era. This paper aims to explore the impact of the digital economy on regional innovation capabilities and its spatial spillover effects by analyzing panel data of 274 cities in China from 2011 to2019. The conclusions are as follows: the digital economy can significantly promote the improvement of regional innovation capabilities. And this conclusion is robust. Based on the location characteristics, it is found that the positive effect of the digital economy on the improvement of innovation capabilities in eastern regions is more obvious;from the perspective of city scale, big cities and mega-cities are the key points for digital economy to promote innovation ability;while from the perspective of city level, municipalities directly under the Central Government, provincial capital cities, sub-provincial cities and cities with separate plans are the important points for digital economy to promote innovation ability. The mechanism identification test found that entrepreneurial activity and industrial structure upgrading are two channels through which the digital economy affects regional innovation capabilities. Threshold effect research shows that as the industrial structure enters a higher threshold, the marginal effect of the digital economy on the improvement of regional innovation capabilities diminishes, while as the government’s innovation preference enters a higher threshold, the marginal effect of the digital economy in promoting regional innovation capabilities increases. Further spatial econometric analysis shows that the digital economy will not only enhance the innovation capabilities of local cities, but also significantly promote the improvement of the innovation capabilities of the surrounding cities, especially in the eastern region.