Abstract:

Improving the green innovation level of cities in the Yellow River Basin is an important measure to implement the high-quality development strategy. In order to explore the new kinetic energy to improve the green development ability of cities in the Yellow River Basin， this paper takes the panel data of 61 prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2023 as a sample， and systematically discusses the enabling effect of the digital economy on the green innovation of cities in the Yellow River Basin. The study found that the digital economy has a significant positive impact on urban green innovation in the Yellow River Basin. This conclusion is still valid after a series of endogenous analysis and robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that digital economy promotes urban green innovation by improving regional financial development level and human capital level respectively. Further analysis shows that digital economy has a non-linear impact on urban green innovation in the Yellow River Basin. Specifically， when the upgrading of industrial structure exceeds the threshold value from low to high， the effect of digital economy on urban green innovation in the Yellow River Basin changes from negative to positive. In addition， the promotion effect of digital economy on urban green innovation in the Yellow River Basin is more significant in non-resource-based cities and provincial capital cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The research conclusions not only reveal the enabling effect of digital economy on urban green innovation in the Yellow River Basin， but also provide a useful reference for promoting green transformation and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.

Key words: digital economy, urban green innovation, Yellow River Basin, threshold effect