数字基础设施建设能否优化城市营商环境?OACHSSCD

Leveraging the enabling role of digital infrastructure is crucial for improving the business environment and promoting high-quality economic and social development.Using the"Broadband China"pilot policy as a proxy for digital infrastructure development and drawing on panel data from 283 prefecture-level and above cities in China spanning 2013 to 2022,this study employs a double machine learning method to investigate the impact of digital infrastructure on urban business environment optimization from the perspectives of government administrative reform and the growth of the digital economy.The findings reveal that(1)digital infrastructure significantly enhances the urban business environment,a conclusion that remains robust after a series of robustness checks;(2)mechanism analysis indicates that digital infrastructure facilitates business environment improvements by deepening government"streamlining,decentralization,and service optimization"?reforms and fostering the development of the digital economy;and(3)heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect varies across contexts,being more pronounced in non-resource-based cities without historical developmental burdens and in cities with higher administrative hierarchies.