Digital industry agglomeration, resource dependence and urban green economy efficiency

Under the background of booming global digital industries and green transformation, this study revisits the impact of digital industry agglomeration on urban green economy efficiency, focusing on the threshold effects of resource dependence. Taking 277 cities in China as an example, the results from spatial models indicate that when resource dependence is lower than a certain value, digital industry agglomeration improves urban green economy efficiency. However, once the degree of resource dependence crosses this threshold, digital industry agglomeration can't enhance urban green economy efficiency significantly anymore. In addition, the estimated threshold value of resource dependence is higher in cities with stronger environmental regulation, higher green technological quality, and sounder digital infrastructure. Accordingly, this study recommends reducing the dependence of related industries on natural resources and improving environmental regulation, green technological quality, and digital infrastructure. This study is beneficial to explain those cities with developed digital industries and low green efficiency, and further explores how the threshold value of resource dependence changes with different situations, which addresses the shortcomings of existing research.