Can the digital economy facilitate the optimization of industrial structure in resource-based cities?

With the continuous development of economy, resource-based cities in China are in urgent need of transforming and upgrading their industrial structures. This article utilizes panel data of 114 resource-based cities from 2011 to 2021 to explore the impact and mechanism of digital economy on optimizing and upgrading industrial structure. The findings, demonstrating a nonlinear relationship, reveal that digital economy promotes the advancement of the industrial structure in resource-based regions significantly. Technological innovation and financial development serve as the intermediary channel of facilitating the advancement of industrial structure in digital economy through intermediary effect analysis. Moreover, in terms of regional heterogeneity, digital economy is more effective in assisting inland resource-based cities in achieving advanced industrial structure compared to coastal areas in China.