China’s economy has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage. Achieving green and sustainable growth driven by the digital economy is its most important purpose. Based on provincial panel data from 2013 to 2019, this paper examines the spatial heterogeneity of the digital economy (Dig) and its nonlinear impact on green economic growth (Geg) from multiple dimensions, using threshold models and spatiotemporal geographic weighting models. The study found that: (1) Dig can significantly promote Geg, but it presents a typical nonlinear characteristic: double thresholds with a trend of “weak negative → strong positive → weak positive”; (2) in this process, the three critical nonlinear factors are financial agglomeration (Fina) with a single threshold of “0.186” and the trend of “weak negative → strong positive”, the marketization level (Market) with double thresholds of “4.448 and 9.06” and the trend of “weak negative → strong positive → positive”, and green technology innovation (Grti) with double thresholds of “5.236 and 9.152” and the trend of “strong negative → strong positive → positive”; (3) the multi-dimensional composite threshold effect indicates that when 0.061 < Dig < 0.539, 5.236 < Grti < 9.152, 4.448 < Market < 9.06, and 0.186 < Fina, the digital economy has the greatest effect on the promotion of green economic growth; and (4) the spatial distribution regression results show that there is obvious regional heterogeneity. The paper has reference value in maximizing the promotion effect of the digital economy on green economic growth.

Fast-paced digitization is affecting all aspects of life, including the way we trade. This study empirically analyzes the influence and mechanism of digital service trade on labor income share using 48 countries’ panel data from 2005 to 2019. The research results show that digital service trade has a positive effect on labor income share. Specifically, the impact of digital service trade on labor income share includes productivity effect, structural effect, and distribution effect. The results also show that the export of digital service trade is more conducive to increasing domestic labor income share than the import. The positive impact of digital service trade on labor income share in OECD countries is more significant than in non-OECD countries. At the same time, the digital service trade’s income distribution effect has heterogeneity due to differentiated national digital service trade barriers’ level. This paper discusses theoretically and empirically the impact of digital service trade on the share of labor income for the first time, and puts forward policy suggestions on formulating more open and win-win digital service trade policies, improving labor income, and promoting social equity and inclusive global trade.

Technological innovation is the core factor for enterprises to maintain competitiveness. This paper aims to investigate how policy uncertainty affect enterprises’ innovation. On the basis of theoretical analysis, this study selects data from 2008–2017- and a share of non-financial listed companies as the research sample. Using patent data of listed companies and China’s economic policy uncertainty (EPU) index, the study examines the impact of EPU on enterprise innovation. In addition, the regulatory effect of enterprise financialization has been investigated. The results show that the EPU can promote the quantity growth of enterprise innovation but inhibit the improvement of enterprise innovation quality. The impact of EPU on enterprise innovation will be affected by enterprise ownership, financing constraint level, life cycle, regional administrative level and regional economic level. Furthermore, enterprise financialization shows a negative regulatory effect in the process of EPU affecting enterprise innovation. This study provides policy enlightenment for reasonably formulating economic policies and promoting enterprise financialization, so as to effectively improve enterprise innovation ability and economic development.

Improving energy utilisation efficiency is imperative to ensuring economic growth and achieving sustainable development. China’s Western Development Strategy (WDS) is a major driver to accelerate the economic development of Western China. It stresses the rational control of energy consumption through the vigorous development of a circular economy to achieve the goal of energy conservation. Based on the measurement of energy utilisation efficiency at the provincial level in China, this study evaluates the impact of the WDS on energy utilisation efficiency through a synthetic control method. Then, the internal impact mechanism of the WDS on energy utilisation efficiency is investigated. In addition, this paper tests the heterogeneous effects of the WDS on energy utilisation efficiency from the perspective of the regional scale, resource endowment, performance appraisal, and institutional quality. It is found that the WDS improves energy utilisation efficiency not only through direct effects but also indirectly by accelerating the spatial agglomeration of advantage industries in Western China, which enhanced technological innovation capacity, optimised industrial structure, and improved the human capital level to ameliorate energy utilisation efficiency. Further analysis proves that the energy-saving effect of the WDS is significant in provinces with a small regional scale, less abundant resources, higher levels of the performance appraisal index and quality system. Accordingly, some targeted policy suggestions are made for the government herein.