The Impact of the Digital Economy on the Health Industry from the Perspective of Threshold and Intermediary Effects: Evidence from China

This study explores the effect of the digital economy driving the development of the health industry and the mechanism behind it. Based on the panel data of 27 Chinese provinces from 2014-2021, this paper uses the entropy weight method to construct a comprehensive indicator evaluation system for the health industry, digital economy, and technological innovation. The two-way fixed effects model and panel threshold model are used to explore the impact of the digital economy on the health industry, and the intermediary effects model is used to analyze the mechanism role of technological innovation in the impact of the digital economy on the health industry. The results show that the digital economy can drive the development of the health industry. The driving effect shows obvious regional heterogeneity, with the strongest in the west, the second strongest in the central part, and the weakest in the east. This driving effect also has non-linear characteristics. Improving technological innovation is an important mechanism for the development of the health industry driven by the digital economy. This study promotes the exploration of the construction path of "Healthy China", and reflects the importance of implementing dynamic and differentiated digital economy strategies and increasing the R & D of core technologies to drive the development of the health industry.