Digital Economy Development, Common Prosperity, and Carbon Emissions: An Empirical Study in China

Abstract

Under the new development model, the digital economy has become a new engine to promote the green development of the economy and realize the goal of “double carbon”. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, this paper empirically investigates the impact of the development of the digital economy on energy and carbon emissions using a series of econometric models such as baseline regression, a mechanism test, and the spatial Durbin model, etc. Common prosperity plays an intermediary role between digital economy development and carbon emissions; digital economic development optimizes resource allocation, effectively solves the problem of uneven resource distribution, and reduces energy and carbon emissions while achieving common prosperity. In addition, green innovation, industrial structure, urbanization level, R&D intensity, and the degree of marketization also have different degrees of influence on energy and carbon emissions. Therefore, the government should accelerate the construction of new digital infrastructure and implement the digital economy development strategy according to local conditions, so as to promote the digital economy to produce a more significant carbon emission reduction effect.