Empowering County Economy Development Resilience with Digital Infrastructure: An Empirical Study Based on 136 County Economies in Shandong Province

Amid escalating global economic uncertainty and increasingly complex geopolitical dynamics, the resilience of county economies stands crucial as foundational units within national economic frameworks. This study utilizes panel data spanning from 2000 to 2021 across 136 counties in Shandong Province to empirically examine the impact of digital infrastructure on county-level economic resilience. Findings highlight several key outcomes: (1) Digital infrastructure significantly enhances economic resilience across Shandong's counties, findings robust to rigorous tests for endogeneity, variable substitution, and outlier removal. Effects vary based on economic zoning, city size, resource endowment, and participation in “smart city” initiatives, with pronounced impacts observed in provincial capital regions, non-resource-based cities, large urban centers, and areas not designated as “smart city” pilots, forming a core-periphery structure with counties under the jurisdiction of “Jinan-Qingdao” as dual economic cores. (2) Main pathways through which digital infrastructure enhances resilience include industrial upgrading and pollution control, facilitating financial development and optimizing resource allocation. Additionally, digital infrastructure fosters social innovation and economic sustainability, contributing to regional economic resilience. (3) Complementary to physical infrastructure, effective implementation of digital policies, notably advancements in “smart cities,” significantly bolsters economic resilience. (4) Spatially, digital infrastructure exhibits positive spillover effects, enhancing local resilience and benefiting neighboring areas through the diffusion of digital technologies, fostering spatial complementarity.