With the rapid development of China’s digital economy, promoting the digital countryside construction has become the strategic focus and priority development direction of rural revitalization and common prosperity. This paper combines the county-level digital countryside index with the data from the China Household Finance Survey to empirically analyze the impact and mechanism of the digital countryside construction on household income. The results show that the digital countryside construction can significantly improve the level of household income. After the endogenous analysis and the robustness test, this core conclusion is still valid. From the perspective of mechanism test, the digital countryside construction can increase household income by promoting household entrepreneurship and nonagricultural employment. Heterogeneity analysis shows that there is no significant difference in the income-increasing effect of the digital countryside construction, whether urban or rural households, or households with different human capital and social relations, which means that the digital countryside development has the characteristics of inclusiveness and sharing. Under the background of unswervingly taking the road of common prosperity for all Chinese people, this paper provides some micro-evidence for how the digital economy can contribute to household income growth, as well as provides a useful reference for the implementation of the digital China strategy.

Adhering to green and low-carbon development is the only way to achieve sustainable economic development in China. High-speed railway (HSR) has the advantages of low energy consumption and low pollution, which is representative of the high-quality development of China’s transportation industry. Based on the panel data of 285 cities in China from 2004 to 2017, this paper explores the impact of HSR development on CO₂ emissions using a difference-in-difference model. The results show that the opening of HSR can effectively reduce the level of urban CO₂ emissions. After the endogeneity test and the robustness test, this core conclusion is still valid. The mechanism test confirms that the opening of HSR can reduce the level of urban carbon emissions by promoting the upgrading of industrial structures and improving the level of green technology innovation. Based on empirical results, this paper proposes that we should make rational use of the positive externalities of the HSR network to promote green development, intensive development, and innovative development.