Coupling and Coordinated Development of the Digital Economy and Economic Resilience in the Pearl River Delta under the Background of a Unified National Market

Abstract

Against the backdrop of China’s ongoing efforts to build a unified national market, the coordinated evolution of the digital economy and economic resilience has become central to regional high-quality development. Using panel data for nine cities in the Pearl River Delta from 2012 to 2022, this study constructs evaluation indicator systems for the digital economy and economic resilience, and applies the entropy weight method, coupling coordination model, obstacle degree model, and spatial visualization to examine their development levels, coordination dynamics, spatiotemporal patterns, and key constraints. The results show that both systems improved over the study period, with faster and more volatile growth in the digital economy and steadier gains in economic resilience. Spatially, both systems show a core–periphery pattern, with the three subregions of Shenzhen–Dongguan–Huizhou, Guangzhou–Foshan–Zhaoqing, and Zhuhai–Zhongshan–Jiangmen forming an increasingly distinct spatial gradient in the later years. High-value digital economy areas are concentrated in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and nearby cities, while economic resilience shows a more stable hierarchy, with manufacturing-based cities such as Foshan and Dongguan gradually catching up and peripheral cities improving more slowly. Coupling coordination also improved overall, though with periodic fluctuations, and the improvement in coordination was mainly associated with the simultaneous rise in the comprehensive development levels of the two systems. The main obstacles to the digital economy are employment in knowledge-intensive service industries and per capita telecommunications business volume, whereas those to economic resilience are R&D expenditure, industrial structure coordination, and patents granted per 10,000 people. These findings suggest the need for differentiated policies that strengthen the capacity of lagging areas, align digital development with resilience building, and reinforce regional resilience through innovation investment and structural upgrading.