The effects and mechanisms of digital economy in breaking the forest "resource curse": Based on the perspective of ecological-economic synergy

Regions rich in forest resources in China have long faced a development dilemma characterized by abundant ecological endowments but relatively weak economic performance. Alleviating the forest "resource curse" is therefore crucial for promoting balanced and coordinated regional development. Using provincial panel data from 2011 to 2023, this paper first measures the annual digital economy development index and the forest "resource curse" coefficient for each region, and then constructs two-way fixed effects, mediation effects and spatial Durbin models to empirically examine the direct, mediating and spatial spillover effects of the digital economy on the forest "resource curse". The main findings are as follows: (1) The digital economy significantly mitigates the forest "resource curse", with increasing marginal returns as the curse deepens, indicating that regions facing more pronounced "resource curse" problems gain relatively larger benefits from digital development. Its three dimensions—digital infrastructure, digital industrialization and industrial digitalization—all contribute to weakening the forest "resource curse" and unlocking the development potential of forest-rich regions. (2) The digital economy reduces the forest "resource curse" through three key transmission channels, namely by promoting the value realization of forest ecological products, driving technological innovation in forestry, and improving forestry human capital. (3) When the digital economy is decomposed into its core dimensions, industrial digitalization exerts a more pronounced mitigating effect on the forest "resource curse" than digital infrastructure construction and digital industrialization. Furthermore, the capacity of the digital economy to alleviate the forest "resource curse" is found to be noticeably stronger in the central region of China than in the eastern and western regions, thereby revealing a distinct pattern of regional heterogeneity in its impact. (4) The digital economy also shows a pronounced spatial spillover effect in alleviating the forest "resource curse", with its mitigation impact transmitted to geographically adjacent provinces through spatial linkages exceeding the direct alleviation effect observed within the province itself. Overall, the findings provide empirical evidence on how the digital economy reshapes the development path of forest-rich regions and offer useful policy implications for exploring coordinated pathways to reconcile ecological conservation with economic development amid rapid digital transformation.