Digital Finance, Green Innovation and the Transformation and Upgrading of Manufacturing Industries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20069/3bv4mj15Keywords:
manufacturing power, digital finance, green innovation, transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industries, environmental regulationAbstract
The global landscape is currently experiencing a profound transformation driven by a new wave of scientific and technological revolution. Within this context, the digital economy and manufacturing sectors are converging at an accelerated pace. Digital finance, as a critical component of the digital economy, has emerged as a key catalyst for manufacturing transformation and upgrading in the modern era. While substantial research exists on digital finance development and manufacturing evolution independently, scholarly exploration of their interrelationship remains relatively limited.
This study establishes a comprehensive evaluation framework for manufacturing transformation and upgrading across four dimensions: quality and efficiency, industrial-digital integration, innovation capability, and green development. Utilizing panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning the period from 2012 to 2021, we employ a two-way fixed effects model to empirically analyze how digital finance influences manufacturing transformation. Our findings reveal that digital finance significantly enhances manufacturing transformation and upgrading, with green innovation serving as a crucial transmission mechanism for realizing these benefits. Specifically, strategic green innovation demonstrates short-term effectiveness, while substantive green innovation exhibits delayed impacts.
Heterogeneity analysis indicates that digital finance exerts stronger positive effects in eastern regions, digital economy clusters, and areas with lower natural resource endowments. Further investigation uncovers a nonlinear relationship characterized by increasing marginal effects of digital finance on manufacturing transformation. However, underdeveloped digital finance systems and excessively lenient environmental regulations can negate these enabling effects.
This research advances existing literature in two significant ways: First, it incorporates digital finance as an emerging macroeconomic factor within the manufacturing transformation framework, offering a novel perspective that complements current understanding of the digital finance–manufacturing relationship. Second, it elucidates the internal mechanisms through which digital finance promotes manufacturing transformation, highlighting green innovation’s pivotal role in this process. This contribution enhances our theoretical comprehension of how emerging financial models impact manufacturing transformation while expanding the research paradigm on financial services supporting the real economy.
Our findings provide valuable theoretical foundations for policymakers at national and local levels seeking to leverage digital finance to address manufacturing transformation challenges and achieve high-quality economic development. Additionally, this study offers empirical insights and policy recommendations for regions to formulate differentiated strategies that enhance digital finance’s effectiveness in empowering the real economy and accelerating the development of advanced manufacturing capabilities.
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