Assessment of coupling coordination between China’s digital economy and new-type urbanization and identification of driving factors

Promoting the coupling coordinated development of the digital economy and new-type urbanization is important for sustainable development in China. By constructing an indicator system of the coupling coordinated development of the digital economy and new-type urbanization based on panel data of China from 2013 to 2021, this study evaluates the coupling coordination degree of the two systems and identifies the influence of crucial driving factors. The results show that the coupling coordination degree of the two systems has increased over time for all regions, while the eastern region has been kept as the best and the western region the worst. In the next 5 years, the differences in the coupling coordination development of the two systems between regions are predicted to reduce gradually, and the central and western regions are catching up with the eastern region. The effects of key driving factors are gradually increasing, with economic development and technological innovation as the leading factors for the coupling coordination development of the two systems. These results are valuable for improving the policy measures to promote the coupling coordination development of the two systems.