The Impact of the Digital Economy on Industrial Structure Upgrading from the Perspective of Regional Heterogeneity: Evidence from China's Provinces

Abstract

The digital economy serves as a crucial engine driving the upgrading of industrial structure and the high-quality development of the economy. Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2023, this paper constructs individual fixed effect models and mediating effect models to systematically examine the impact mechanism of the digital economy on the upgrading of industrial structure. The empirical results show: First, the digital economy can significantly promote the upgrading of industrial structure, and the driving effect exhibits regional heterogeneity with the central region > western region > eastern region. Second, the digital economy can indirectly promote the upgrading of industrial structure by enhancing human capital, and the mediating effect of human capital also shows regional heterogeneity. Specifically, the central region has a complete mediating effect, the western region has a partial mediating effect, and the eastern region has no mediating effect. Therefore, this paper proposes that each region should implement differentiated digital economic development strategies and strengthen talent cultivation and allocation, and improve the regional coordinated development mechanism to achieve the coordinated upgrading of regional industrial structure through the empowerment of the digital economy, and contribute to the high-quality development of the economy.