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Smart city construction aims to promote the digital transformation of cities, support the modernization of urban governance, and stimulate urban innovation and development. In this paper, we analyze the role of smart city construction on economic growth and the impact mechanism driving this. In terms of theoretical analysis, we discuss the role of smart city construction in economic growth based on Schumpeterian innovation theory. In terms of empirical analysis, we evaluate the impact of smart city construction on economic growth with panel data of Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2019, using time-varying difference-in-differences models and the event study method. The findings of the research indicate that the construction of smart cities has a positive effect on regional economic growth and the results can be confirmed through a series of robustness tests. Smart city construction generates mediating effects by enhancing urban innovation capability and entrepreneurship, thereby promoting urban economic growth. Furthermore, the impact of smart city construction on economic growth exhibits heterogeneous effects due to variations in the degree of marketization. In regions with a higher level of marketization, the promotional effect of smart city construction on economic growth is stronger. Consequently, it is imperative to intensify the implementation of smart city construction and persistently pursue market-oriented reforms.
Ma et al. (Fri,) studied this question.