The impact of information infrastructure on upgrading industrial structure: The intermediary role of urbanization and technological progress

The construction of information infrastructure as well as the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure are among the major challenges facing China's economy nowadays. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore how information infrastructure affects the upgrading of industrial structure. Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2013 to 2020, mediating effect model and non-parametric percentile bootstrap method are used to carry out empirical research, by creating an information infrastructure construction level and industrial structure upgrading indicators. The results show that, in addition to the direct effect of information infrastructure on industrial structure upgrading, information infrastructure can also work indirectly through three paths: (1) information infrastructure acts on industrial structure upgrading by enhancing urbanization level; (2) information infrastructure affects industrial structure upgrading by boosting technological progress; (3) information infrastructure first enhances urbanization level, then acts on technological progress, and finally promotes industrial structure upgrading. In addition, the intermediary effect of technological progress is stronger than urbanization. In general, this study acknowledges that urbanization and technological progress are partial mediators in the process of information infrastructure affecting industrial structure upgrading, notwithstanding other potential impact pathways being studied further.