What does this research mean for the field?

Digital policy interventions improve eco-environmental governance performance both locally and through regional spillovers, with the extent of local internalization depending heavily on absorptive capacity and complementary data institutions like public data openness and data circulation. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To examine whether and under what institutional conditions digital policy interventions enhance urban eco-environmental governance performance and generate cross-city spatial spillovers.

August 29, 2026Digital Policy Regulation and Governance

From diffusion to internalization: digital policy, data institutions and eco-environmental governance performance in China

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Authors

ZLZexin LinFudan University PLPingyang LiuFudan University

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Implication

Quasi-experimental study reveals enhanced eco-environmental governance in Chinese cities following digital policy rollout, highlighting the critical role of complementary data institutions.

Key Points

To examine whether and under what institutional conditions digital policy interventions enhance urban eco-environmental governance performance and generate cross-city spatial spillovers.
Evaluated panel data from 269 prefecture-level cities in China spanning 2009 to 2019.
Exploited the staggered rollout of China's National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone (NBDCPZ) policy as a quasi-natural experiment using a difference-in-differences framework.
Applied spatial econometric models, including the spatial Durbin model, and interaction terms with public data openness and data trading platform presence to assess local effects, spillovers, and institutional complementarity.
Implementation of the NBDCPZ digital policy shock significantly improved local eco-environmental governance performance and generated positive spatial spillovers to economically proximate cities.
Policy benefits were spatially uneven: cities with advanced informatization and favorable regional conditions absorbed gains locally, whereas less-developed cities relied primarily on external diffusion.
The joint presence of public data openness and active data circulation platforms amplified the policy's direct local benefits, demonstrating an institutional complementarity mechanism.

Cite This Study

Lin et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a92be7b8e5d7d1fc0c123a2 https://doi.org/10.1108/dprg-04-2026-0207

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Implication

Quasi-experimental study reveals enhanced eco-environmental governance in Chinese cities following digital policy rollout, highlighting the critical role of complementary data institutions.

From diffusion to internalization: digital policy, data institutions and eco-environmental governance performance in China

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

From diffusion to internalization: digital policy, data institutions and eco-environmental governance performance in China

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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