Impact of Digital Green Finance on New Quality Productivity from the Perspective of Spatial Spillover: Evidence from 285 Cities in China

Impact of Digital Green Finance on New Quality Productivity from the Perspective of Spatial Spillover: Evidence from 285 Cities in China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Impact of Digital Green Finance on New Quality Productivity from the Perspective of Spatial Spillover: Evidence from 285 Cities in China Jiaxi Liu, Guangyi Fan, xianzhao liu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8302706/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 13 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Digital green finance (DGF) is the core driving force for promoting high-quality economic development, but it is worth exploring whether it can provide support for the development of urban new quality productivity (NQP). This study selects panel data from 285 prefecture-level and above cities in China spanning 2009–2023 to measure the levels of NQP and DGF using the entropy method and the coupling coordination index model, and explores the spatial spillover effects of DGF on the development of urban NQP and its underlying mechanisms by constructing a spatial Durbin model and a mediation effect model. The results indicates that both the levels of urban DGF and NQP in China are on an upward trajectory, exhibiting a "high-high and low-low" spatial clustering characteristics. DGF significantly empowers the development of urban NQP, with notable spatial spillover effects. Furthermore, DGF promotes the development of NQP by driving green technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading, and the intermediary effect of industrial structure upgrading is more obvious. In addition, regional heterogeneity, urban agglomeration heterogeneity, and temporal heterogeneity in the issuance of the "Guidance on Building a Green Financial System" significantly influence the effectiveness of DGF. Accordingly, it is recommended to strengthen the policy support system for DGF, establish a collaborative development mechanism of DGF, and enhance green technology innovation and industrial structure upgrading, as well as implement differentiated regional strategies. These measures will provide robust support for unleashing the potential of DGF in boosting NQP. Social science/Development studies Business and commerce/Economics Social science/Economics Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences digital green finance urban new quality productivity spatial spillover effect Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files file.rar Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 21 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 11 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 01 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 05 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 03 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 07 Jan, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 07 Jan, 2026 Editor invited by journal 25 Dec, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 23 Dec, 2025 First submitted to journal 23 Dec, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8302706","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":570608732,"identity":"ff24521f-544f-41e4-84d9-8691c9cdf839","order_by":0,"name":"Jiaxi Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Guangxi Minzu University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jiaxi","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":570608736,"identity":"628afbb0-1d28-4f17-87e8-258eda72563f","order_by":1,"name":"Guangyi Fan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Guangxi Minzu 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