Digital Infrastructure Construction and Unified National Market Formation: On the Synergistic Effect of the Transportation Network Expansion

Abstract

Building a unified national market is the foundational support and inherent requirement for establishing a new development pattern. As the underlying architecture and technological foundation of digital China, digital infrastructure provides a new opportunity for accelerating the building of a unified national market. This paper, based on panel data from cities in China from 2009 to 2020, analyzes the impact of digital infrastructure construction on the formation of a unified national market and its mechanisms from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. It also explores the synergistic effect of expanding transportation networks. This paper finds that the construction of digital infrastructure significantly promotes the formation of a unified national market. The enhanced data factor mobility and increased degree of technological specialization brought about by the development of digital infrastructure are important channels affecting the formation of a unified national market. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that in terms of urban characteristics, digital infrastructure more effectively promotes the formation of a unified market in small- and medium-sized cities and coastal cities . In terms of government behavior, an increased focus by the government on digital infrastructure and a reduction in administrative segmentation are more conducive to leveraging the promotional role of digital infrastructure in the formation of a unified national market. Extension analysis demonstrates that the expansion of transportation networks and digital infrastructure can form a synergistic effect, significantly boosting the formation of a unified national market.

Keywords

unified national market / digital infrastructure / transportation network / data factor mobility / technological specialization

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Higher Education Press