Can the digital economy enhance the agricultural production technical efficiency? An analysis based on panel data of prefecture-level cities in China

The digital economy facilitates the integration of digital resources and the upgrading of production processes in agriculture, thereby enhancing the efficiency of agricultural production technical and providing significant impetus for achieving agricultural modernization. This study utilizes a sample of 272 cities in China from 2010 to 2021, employs the entropy method to calculate the level of digital economic development, applies the SFA method to measure agricultural production technical efficiency, and empirically examines the impact of the digital economy on agricultural production technical efficiency as well as its moderating effects using panel fixed effects models, moderation effect models, and multi-period double difference models. The findings are as follows: The relationship between the digital economy and agricultural production technical efficiency follows an inverted Ushaped curve. Furthermore, analysis on moderation effects reveals that agricultural land resource endowment positively moderates this inverted U-shaped relationship while labor resource endowment negatively moderates it. Heterogeneity analysis indicates significant dimensional and regional variations in this inverted U-shaped relationship between the digital economy and agricultural production technical efficiency. Additionally, exogenous shock tests demonstrate that "Broadband China" pilot policy have a significantly positive impact on digitizing agriculture by improving agricultural production technical efficiency.