The Impact of Digital Economy Pilot Zones on Corporate New Quality Productive Forces: Evidence from Double Machine Learning
As a transformative force, the digital economy serves as a critical engine for driving high-quality economic development and fostering New Quality Productive Forces (NQPF)—characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality. Viewing the establishment of China’s National Digital Economy Innovation and Development Pilot Zones as a quasi-natural experiment in economic system management, this study employs a Double Machine Learning (DML) framework to evaluate its systemic impact on A-share listed companies from 2015 to 2023. Unlike traditional linear models, the DML approach flexibly controls for high-dimensional confounding variables and functional form misspecification, thereby ensuring highly rigorous causal inference. The empirical results demonstrate that these pilot zones create an optimized “digital environment” that significantly enhances corporate NQPF, a conclusion that remains highly robust across a comprehensive battery of robustness and endogeneity tests. Mechanism analysis reveals three systemic transmission pathways through which the policy operates: optimizing factor allocation, deepening digital technology empowerment, and promoting green innovation and sustainability. Furthermore, heterogeneity analyses indicate that the policy’s efficacy varies significantly across corporate profiles, manifesting most prominently in non-state-owned enterprises, high-tech firms, and those located in eastern regions. These findings provide robust micro-level evidence for policymakers aiming to optimize digital economic systems and accelerate the systemic formation of advanced productive forces.