Analysis of the Impact of Digital Economy Development on Green Technology Innovation from the Perspective of Talent Agglomeration

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the flourishing digital economy and the deepening push for green and low-carbon transformation, green technology innovation, as the core fulcrum connecting the "digital dividend" and the "green dividend," is increasingly becoming a vital engine for promoting high-quality development. Based on provincial panel data from China spanning 2011 to 2022, this study systematically investigates the impact of digital economy development on green technology innovation, with a particular focus on the nonlinear moderating role of talent agglomeration. The findings reveal the following: First, the level of digital economy development has a significant positive promoting effect on green technology innovation. The baseline regression coefficient is 1.207, significant at the 1% level. This conclusion remains robust after a one-period lag robustness test, with the coefficient increasing to 1.373, indicating a certain lagged persistence in the enabling effect of the digital economy. Second, talent agglomeration plays a significant nonlinear moderating role in the process of the digital economy influencing green technology innovation. The threshold effect model identifies a single threshold value of 0.4518. When the talent agglomeration level is below this threshold, the coefficient for the digital economy's promotion of green technology innovation is as high as 3.876. However, when the talent agglomeration level crosses the threshold, the coefficient decreases to 3.423, a drop of approximately 11.7%. This change reveals the dual effect of talent agglomeration—moderate agglomeration amplifies the enabling effect of the digital economy through mechanisms such as knowledge spillovers and collaborative innovation, while excessive agglomeration leads to diminishing marginal returns due to factors like the dilution of innovation resources and intensified internal competition. Regarding control variables, industrial structure upgrading has the most powerful promoting effect on green technology innovation, while the degree of openness and the level of financial development exhibit negative impacts, possibly related to the structure of their resource allocation. The findings of this study provide a new theoretical perspective for understanding the boundary conditions of the digital economy enabling green innovation. They also offer empirical evidence for formulating differentiated talent policies and optimizing the development path of the digital economy. For regions where talent agglomeration has not yet reached the standard, efforts should focus on attracting talent to release agglomeration dividends. For regions where talent agglomeration is already dense, the focus should be on structural optimization and efficiency improvement to avoid falling into a "crowding trap" caused by blindly pursuing quantitative expansion.