2026-10-10T19:15:23Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33978025 2026-09-23T22:01:46Z category_575 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Data Sheet 1_Prosper or beggar thy neighbor? non-farm employment effects and spatial spillovers of China's National Digital Village Pilot Program.pdf Wei Yang (109917) Lijun Wang (176511) Yizhuo Ma (23734041) Food Packaging, Preservation and Safety county-level innovation difference-in-differences mobile network access capability National Digital Village Pilot Program rural non-farm employment spatial spillover Introduction<p>Counties are a key spatial unit linking cities and villages in China's rural transformation, yet many still lack the industrial base, market scale, and non-farm job opportunities needed to absorb rural labor. This study examines whether China's National Digital Village Pilot Program expands rural non-farm employment and whether its effects extend beyond pilot counties.</p>Methods<p>Using a panel of 1,450 Chinese counties and 24,111 county-year observations from 2007 to 2024, this study exploits the staggered implementation of the 2020 and 2024 pilot cohorts as a quasi-natural experiment. The policy effect is estimated using a multi-period difference-in-differences model and cross-validated with stacked DID and the Callaway-Sant'Anna estimator. Robustness is further assessed through propensity score matching, inverse probability weighting, entropy balancing, placebo tests, and alternative samples and specifications. Transmission channels, heterogeneity, and spatial effects are also examined.</p>Results<p>The National Digital Village Pilot Program increased rural non-farm employment in pilot counties by approximately 25% relative to non-pilot counties, and the result remains robust across alternative identification and estimation strategies. The two-step transmission-channel analysis provides evidence consistent with two potential channels: enhanced county-level innovation and improved mobile network access capability. The policy effect is significantly stronger in central-region counties than in western counties and stronger in smaller counties than in larger ones, with weaker evidence of a larger effect in counties with lower human capital. Spatial analysis shows a positive direct effect on pilot counties but a negative spillover effect on neighboring counties.</p>Discussion<p>The findings indicate that digital village development can strengthen local non-farm employment absorption, but part of the local gain may reflect a spatial reallocation of economic activity rather than net regional job creation. Effective implementation therefore requires not only county-level digital development but also cross-county resource coordination and regional policy integration.</p> 2026-09-23T22:01:46Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fsufs.2026.1950504.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Data_Sheet_1_Prosper_or_beggar_thy_neighbor_non-farm_employment_effects_and_spatial_spillovers_of_China_s_National_Digital_Village_Pilot_Program_pdf/33978025 CC BY 4.0