How does the digital economy affect ecological well-being performance? Evidence from three major urban agglomerations in China

Abstract

The booming digital economy (DIG) has deeply altered the pattern of people’s lives and production and plays a key role in increasing human well-being and achieving urban sustainability. This study investigates the relationship between the DIG and ecological well-being performance (EWP) in the urban agglomerations of Yangtze River Delta (YRD), Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) from 2010 to 2020. The main results are as follows. Overall, the DIG can significantly enhance EWP. In terms of spatial spillover effect, there is no spatial spillover effect in BTH and YRD urban agglomerations, and there is a negative spatial spillover effect in PRD urban agglomerations. The overall performance is that the DIG promotes the growth of EWP in the region, while the increase of DIG in the neighboring regions will hinder the enhancement of EWP in the region. In terms of regional heterogeneity, the size of the direct contribution of the DIG to EWP is “PRD > YRD > BTH”. Finally, technological innovation and industrial structure optimization are mechanism variables. This study offers direction for improving EWP.