Does the government digital attention improve China's digital economy output efficiency: Accelerator or inhibitor

Building "Digital China" is an important engine for promoting China's modernization in the digital era. Studying the government attention to the digital economy is crucial for realizing the value of data elements and promoting the stable and long-term development of the digital economy. This paper uses panel data from Chinese provincial-level administrative regions from 2013 to 2021 as samples to theoretically analyze and empirically investigate the impact and mechanism of government digital attention on digital economy output efficiency. The research findings are as follows: (1) During the inspection period, government digital attention significantly enhances the digital economy output efficiency; specifically, for a 1 unit increase in government digital attention, the digital economy output efficiency increases by 9.99 %. (2) The impact of government digital attention on digital economy output efficiency is more effective in the central and western regions, areas with strong intellectual property protection, and regions with strong political promotion incentives. (3) Government digital attention promotes digital economy output efficiency through data openness mechanism and data flow mechanism. (4) In regions with lower media attention, government digital attention plays a more significant role in improving digital economy output efficiency, acting as a positive substitution role.