数字乡村建设对县域产业升级的影响

县域作为我国经济功能完整、运行独立的基本空间单元，在经济发展体系中的地位举足轻重。当下，我国大多数县域经济发展仍旧处于较低的水平，存在产业发展严重依赖于传统工业与农业、数字基础设施条件落后等多重掣肘。县域产业升级是实现县域经济高质量发展的重要动力，合理的技术应用会促进产业结构的升级进而影响经济增长，数字技术的蓬勃发展为县域发展带来了新的契机。在此背景下，探讨数字乡村建设是否会影响县域产业升级，通过何种渠道来影响，这种影响效应又是否会因县域经济发展水平不同而存在异质性，这一系列问题的解答对理论与实践都具有重大意义。目前关于数字乡村建设与县域产业结构升级关系的研究尚未形成一致结论，由于变量度量指标、样本观测期、理论基础的不同而有所区别。文章将北京大学新农村发展研究院和阿里研究院共同发布的县域数字乡村指数数据与中国县级层面相关数据进行匹配，最终得到2018—2020年涵盖中国1 094个县(市)的面板数据，运用面板固定效应模型实证考察数字乡村建设水平对产业结构影响的总效应，并进一步开展了作用机制以及异质性效应讨论。实证结果表明：从全样本层面看，数字乡村建设能够显著促进产业结构升级转型，在进行...

The impact of digital village construction on the upgrading of county-level industries

As the basic spatial unit of China''s economy with complete economic functions and independent operation, counties play a crucial role in the economic development system. Currently, most county-level economies in China are still at a relatively low level, facing multiple constraints such as heavy reliance on traditional industries and agriculture, and inadequate digital infrastructure. Upgrading county-level industries is an important driving force for achieving high-quality economic development. The vigorous development of digital technology brings new opportunities for county-level development. In this background, it is important to explore whether digital rural development will impact the upgrading of county-level industries, through which channels it will influence, and whether these effects will vary due to different levels of county-level economic development. The answers to these questions hold significant theoretical and practical implications. However, research on the relationship between digital village construction and county-level industrial structure upgrading has not yet reached a consensus, due to differences in variable measurement indicators, sample observation periods, and theoretical foundations. We match the county-level digital rural index data jointly released by the Peking University''s Institute of New Rural Development and Alibaba Research Institute with relevant data in the county level in China. It ultimately obtains panel data covering 1094 counties (cities) in China from 2018 to 2020. By employing a panel fixed-effects model, it empirically investigates the overall effect of the level of digital rural development on industrial structure and further discusses the mechanisms and heterogeneity effects. The empirical results show that, from the perspective of the entire sample, digital village construction significantly promotes the upgrading and transformation of industrial structure. Even after conducting various robustness tests such as endogeneity issues, replacement of explanatory variable and dependent variables, and excluding special samples, this result keeps the same as the baseline. In terms of the mechanism, digital village construction promotes the upgrading of county-level industrial structure by enhancing residents'' entrepreneurial activities and income. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive effect of digital rural development on industrial upgrading is more pronounced in the northeast and central regions of China. Based on the above results, the article proposes several policy recommendations, including promoting the level of digital construction and application in county-level areas, strengthening the cultivation of digital literacy among county residents, stimulating the employment-promoting effects of digital village construction, and leveraging the advantages of digital technology in underdeveloped economic regions. The main contribution of this article lies in the use of the county-level digital rural index to measure the level of digital construction at the county level scientifically and intuitively. By exploring the relationship between digital rural development and industrial upgrading at a finer scale of counties, it enriches existing research and provides guidance for the government to accelerate digital transformation in counties and realize rural revitalization and common prosperity.