The Synergistic Evolution of Resilience and Efficiency in the Digital Economy and Its Path Identification: Evidence from China

Abstract

An effective combination of resilience and efficiency will help to promote the high-quality development of the digital economy. In this paper, we use the entropy method, the Super-SBM model, and the Haken model to measure the digital economy resilience, digital economy efficiency, and their synergistic evolution mechanisms in 31 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions from 2013 to 2020, respectively. The results show that: (1) The resilience of the digital economy is the order parameter leading synergistic development, playing a prominent role in promoting the development of the digital economy from disorder to order. (2) Synergistic evolution has evolved from low-level to high-level, but it is in the primary stage as a whole, and the fluctuation of its development is not obvious, showing a unipolar development pattern. (3) There are significant regional differences in synergistic evolution, showing a polarization pattern, with the “Matthew effect” that the stronger the start the stronger the development. (4) Overall, the resilience and efficiency of the digital economy show a positive synergistic effect, but some provinces show a negative feedback mechanism that inhibits the orderly development of the system, there is a bias effect, and the development levels of the resilience and efficiency of the digital economy are mismatched. (5) The four paths that drive the synergistic evolution of resilience and efficiency in a high digital economy are the “Resilience Dominates Driven Path”, the “Basic Driven Path”, the “Innovation Driven Path”, and the “Balanced Driven Path”, respectively. In short, the synergistic evolution of the resilience and efficiency of the digital economy shows that the future development of the digital economy needs to cultivate endogenous momentum, pay attention to strengthening resilience in the process of continuing to build a diversified industrial system, and continuously improve the operational efficiency of the digital economy, in order to promote its high-quality development.