Can Opening Public Data Facilitate the Digital-Real Integration? A Quasi-Natural Experiment with the Launch of a Government Data Platform

Abstract

The public data serves as an important foundational resource and a key production factor for supporting digital transformation. Evaluating its impact on the integration of the digital economy and the real economy is essential for informed governance. Based on a quasi- natural experiment involving the inauguration of a government data platform, a coupled evaluation model is used to gauge the degree of integration between the digital and real economies across 280 prefecture-level cities nationwide spanning from 2010 to 2021. Employing the difference-in-differences model with multiple time periods, this paper empirically scrutinizes the impact of opening public data, exemplified by the launch of the government data platform, on the integration of digital and real economies. There are four findings. (1) Opening public data significantly boosts the integration of the digital and real economies, and the conclusion is upheld by a series of robustness tests. (2) Opening public data primarily impacts the integration of the digital and real economies through cost effect, factor allocation effect, and technological innovation effect. (3) The enhancement effect of opening public data on the digital-real integration varies notably across cities with different administrative levels, market protections, and resource endowments, with more pronounced effects seen in cities with higher administrative levels and greater market integration as well as non-resource-based cities. (4) The opening of higher-quality government data correlates with a more pronounced enhancement effect on the digital- real integration . The quality of open data, the level of platform construction, and the extent of policy support influence the value creation effect of opening public data to some extent. Based on the above findings, this paper puts forth policy recommendations that center on prioritizing the cultivation of a comprehensive data element market, exploring multidimensional avenues to drive digital-real integration, and implementing customized policies in line with urban development characteristics. These suggestions serve as guiding principles to promote the digital-real integration.

Keywords

opening public data / digital economy / real economy / integration of the digital economy and the real economy (digital-real integration)

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2024 Higher Education Press