Policy levers for sustainable transformation: assessing the synergistic impact of the digital village strategy on ecological environment and common prosperity

Introduction The Digital Village Strategy is an important policy instrument for reducing urban-rural disparities and promoting coordinated development in ecological environment and common prosperity in China. Methods Using provincial-level panel data for Chinese provinces, this study employs a two-way fixed effects model, a Spatial Durbin model, and mediation effect tests to examine the direct, spatial, and mediating effects of the Digital Village Strategy on coordinated development. Results The findings show that the Digital Village Strategy has a U-shaped direct effect on coordinated development, initially inhibiting and later promoting ecological protection and common prosperity. Its spatial spillover effect follows an inverted U-shape, first widening and then narrowing regional disparities. Digital technology, digital inclusive finance, and digital governance serve as important mediating channels. Discussion This study addresses the limited rural focus in existing digitalization research and provides theoretical and empirical support for using digital village policies to promote rural revitalization, ecological improvement, and common prosperity.