Evaluation and Innovation of Methods for Measuring the Development Level of Urban Digital Economy

With the continuous development of Internet technology, the digital economy has become a new engine of contemporary economic development. In particular, on March 12, 2021, China released the "14th Five Year Plan" and the Outline of Vision Goals for 2035, clearly proposing to "create new advantages of the digital economy". Based on this background, this article first analyzes and evaluates the mainstream methods for measuring the development level of the digital economy in China and foreign countries. It is found that the current measurement methods and indicator selection vary greatly, and the accuracy and credibility of the measurement are questionable. Therefore, this article proposes to use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to measure the level of digital economy development in Chinese cities, and elaborates on its rationality.