The Impact of Digital Economy on New Urbanization in Shanxi Province

Abstract

In recent years, the digital economy has increasingly become a significant driver of economic growth in China, with its tremendous potential affecting various aspects of the country's economic and social sectors. Shanxi Province is renowned for being a resource-based coal city in China and is currently in a critical period of developing new urbanization. Investigating whether the development of the digital economy in Shanxi Province positively influences new urbanization is of great importance for regional development. This study utilizes panel data from 11 prefecture-level cities in Shanxi Province from 2004 to 2017 and constructs a comprehensive indicator system for new urbanization, including economic urbanization, social urbanization, spatial urbanization, and population urbanization. The study calculates the comprehensive index of new urbanization in Shanxi Province and the level of the digital economy in Shanxi Province using the entropy weight method. Based on these indicators, a fixed-effects panel data regression model is established to quantitatively examine the impact of the digital economy's development level on the construction of new urbanization in Shanxi Province. The study reveals that (1) the regional development level of the digital economy in Shanxi Province has a significant positive promotion effect on new urbanization. (2) Regional government intervention in Shanxi Province plays a strong positive guiding role in the development of new urbanization. (3) The enhancement of the comprehensive economic strength of Shanxi Province significantly affects new urbanization construction, but the effect is not substantial.