Digital Empowerment and Spatial Equilibrium: An Empirical Examination of the Impact of the Digital Economy on Regional Economic Patterns from the Perspective of Common Prosperity

Abstract

Common prosperity is an important goal of China’s high-quality development. Optimizing the spatial layout of the regional economy and guiding rational economic agglomeration are key to advancing coordinated regional development. The digital economy is profoundly reshaping regional economic patterns, but its mechanisms of influence on prefecture-level economic spatial agglomeration still require clarification. Based on panel data from 266 prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2023, this paper constructs a comprehensive digital economy index and employs two-way fixed effects and the Spatial Durbin Model to examine the impact of the digital economy on regional economic agglomeration and its spatial spillover effects. The results show that the digital economy significantly strengthens local economic agglomeration, with even stronger spatial spillover effects, exhibiting a regional siphoning phenomenon. This impact varies significantly across different locations, city types, and development levels. All three types of moderating factors positively enhance local agglomeration levels but inhibit positive spatial spillovers and exacerbate regional imbalances. This study provides empirical evidence for formulating location-specific digital development policies and promoting coordinated regional development.