Measuring the Development Level of Digital Industrialization and Industrial Digitization using the SBM-Malmquist Model: Evidence from prefecture-level cities in China

Abstract

Studying the changes in the composition structure of the digital economy of cities in the new development paradigm is vital. Based on panel data of 143 major prefecture-level cities in China from 2013 to 2019, this study subdivides the urban digital economy into digital industrialisation and industrial digitisation, then measures their development levels using the SBM-Malmquist total factor productivity model. The results showed that the development level of digital industrialisation and industrial digitisation in Chinese prefecture-level cities is currently experiencing a period of rapid growth. However, expansion has decelerated in recent years.