The Digital Economy's Impact on the High-Quality Development of the Manufacturing Industry in China's Yangtze River Economic Belt

Based on the panel data of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2011 to 2021, this study constructs a fixed effect model, a mediating effect model, and a threshold effect model to verify the enabling role, conduction path, and nonlinear effect of the digital economy on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry in the Economic Belt. It is found that the digital economy has remarkably enabled the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry in the Economic Belt, with an obviously stronger enabling effect in large-scale cities than in small ones; the digital economy can indirectly affect the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry in the Economic Belt through upgraded industrial structure, regional innovation, and residents' consumption. Subject to environmental regulation, the digital economy's impact on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry in the Economic Belt has a double-threshold effect. With intensified urban environmental regulation, the digital economy's promotion effect on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry has demonstrated a trend of first enhancing and then weakening.