Abstract:

The combination of digital economy and real economy is an important approach to improve the productivity of enterprises, as well as the transformation and upgrading of the national economy. Using data from 41 cities and A-share listed companies in the Yangtze River Delta region from 2011 to 2021, and utilizing the transaction cost theory, this paper examines the impact of the level of digital economy development on the vertical specialization of enterprises. The results show that: (1) The development of the digital economy significantly increases the vertical specialization of enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta. (2) The heterogeneity analysis shows that digital economy possesses a stronger facilitating effect on the vertical specialization of enterprises for non-state-owned enterprises, manufacturing and high-tech industry firms, and that in the Yangtze River Delta, this effect is more significant in the core areas, areas with high levels of digital economy, and non-resource-based cities. (3) The mechanism analysis shows that digital economy development promotes vertical specialization by reducing the degree of firms’ asset specificity and increasing the level of market integration in the Yangtze River Delta. The above findings not only reveal the mechanism of digital economy development to promote the division of labor between enterprises, but also expand the related research on enterprise boundaries, which can provide insights for the mutual integration of digital economy and real economy to further optimize the industrial structure.

Key words: digital economy, vertical specialization division of labor, asset specificity, market integration, the Yangtze River Delta