How does e-commerce demonstration city improve urban innovation? Evidence from China

This paper provides a feasible way to realize urban innovation through the e-commerce pilot. Based on the data of 289 cities in China from 2002 to 2019, we examine the impact of the National E-commerce Demonstration City pilot on urban innovation with a staggered difference-in-differences method. The results show that after becoming a pilot city of National E-commerce Demonstration Cities (NEDC), the quantity and quality of urban innovation have improved. Further, NEDC policy plays a greater role in promoting innovation in economically agglomerated areas, first-and third-tier cities and areas with a higher degree of marketization. Finally, NEDC policy can affect the level of urban innovation by optimizing the allocation of innovation factors, improving the efficiency of credit resource allocation and forming the logistics scale effect.