ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Coupling Coordinated Analysis of Digital
Village Construction, Economic Growth and
Environmental Protection in Rural China
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1
Economic College, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
2
Accounting College, Hunan University of Finance and Economics, Changsha, China
Submission date: 2023-12-15
Final revision date: 2024-01-17
Acceptance date: 2024-01-31
Online publication date: 2024-06-17
Publication date: 2024-07-12
Corresponding author
Hui Liu
Hunan Agricultural University, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(5):5925-5941
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ABSTRACT
Coordinating the development of the economy and environment has always been a tough challenge.
The digital village construction in China offers unprecedented historical opportunities for rural areas to
propel coordinated development and catch up with their urban counterparts. This paper used a coupling
coordination degree model, exploratory spatial data analysis, and an obstacle degree model to investigate the
coupling coordination of digital village construction, economic growth, and the environmental protection
system (DEES) in rural China from 2015 to 2021. The results indicate: (1) The coupling coordination
degree of DEES increases annually, yet a significant spatial imbalance among regions persists. (2) There
is a positive spatial correlation in the coupling coordination of DEES, with the clustering trend gradually
strengthening and subsequently weakening. (3) The most consistent obstacles are economic growth and
per capita income, while obstacle factors vary among provinces. The results suggest that governments
should increase investment in rural digital infrastructure, promote the synergistic efforts of the digital
economy and green development, and drive the digitization of rural areas. Meanwhile, each province
should use its own resources effectively, to make up for any shortcomings, thereby promoting coupling
coordinated development in rural areas.