Urban broadband infrastructure and green total-factor energy efficiency in China

Using a quasi-natural experiment and city-level panel data from 2009 to 2018 in China, this paper investigates the impact of broadband infrastructure on green total-factor energy efficiency. Empirical results show that Broadband China Strategy has improved the green total-factor energy efficiency by an average of 2.61%, and the improvement effect is only found in central and western as well as small and medium-sized cities. Broadband infrastructure can promote trade openness and improve green total-factor energy efficiency in cities with higher initial trade costs and those with lower initial trade openness. Besides, broadband infrastructure promotes green total-factor energy efficiency through technology diffusion rather than innovation.

Automated summary

This paper examines the impact of broadband infrastructure on green total-factor energy efficiency in Chinese cities using a quasi-natural experiment and city-level panel data from 2009 to 2018. The empirical results show that the implementation of the Broadband China Strategy has improved green total-factor energy efficiency by an average of 2.61%, and this improvement is only observed in central and western as well as small and medium-sized cities. Furthermore, broadband infrastructure promotes green total-factor energy efficiency by facilitating trade openness in cities with higher initial trade costs and lower initial trade openness, and this improvement is driven by technology diffusion rather than innovation.