统计与信息论坛

数字经济时代，数据作为新型关键生产要素，其潜在价值释放已成为驱动经济高质量发展的重要引擎。基于2010—2022年中国各城市工商企业注册的微观数据，将各城市政府数据开放平台的陆续开通视为一项准自然实验，构建多时点双重差分模型进行因果识别。实证结果表明，政府公共数据开放对地区创业活跃度产生了显著且稳健的促进作用，数据开放平台的开通使地区新增企业数量的增长率提升了约8个百分点。这一结论在经过平行趋势检验、安慰剂检验以及多项稳健性检验后依然成立。机制分析揭示，政府公共数据开放的赋能效应主要通过降低制度性交易成本以及优化区域商业信用环境得以实现。异质性分析表明，政府公共数据开放的创业促进效应在创业者不确定性感知较低、人口规模较大以及地理区位优势明显的地区更为突出。基于研究结果，应从健全数据开放制度、强化平台安全建设及完善创业支持政策等多方面协同发力，全面激发数据要素价值，以数字化转型驱动区域创业活力提升。

In the era of the digital economy, data as a new type of key factor of production, has seen the release of its potential value as a crucial engine driving high-quality economic development.Using a comprehensive dataset of micro-level industrial and commercial enterprise registrations across Chinese cities from 2010 to 2022,we treat the staggered launch of municipal government data open platforms as a quasi-natural experiment.We construct a staggered difference-in-differences(DID) model to identify the causal effect, meticulously addressing the challenges posed by variation in treatment timing.Empirical results demonstrate a significant and robust promoting effect of public data opening on regional entrepreneurial dynamism.On average, the inauguration of a city-level data open platform leads to an approximately 10-percentage-point increase in the growth rate of newly registered enterprises within a city.This core finding is not merely correlational but is established as causal through a series of rigorous tests.It withstands scrutiny from parallel trends tests, which confirm that treatment and control cities followed similar pre-treatment trajectories in entrepreneurial activity.Further mechanism analysis reveals that the “empowerment” effect of public data opening is primarily transmitted through two distinct yet potentially interconnected channels.The first channel is the reduction of institutional transaction costs.By providing centralized, often free, access to authoritative government-held data-such as information on market regulations, administrative procedures, licensing requirements, industry standards, zoning laws, and government procurement tenders-data open platforms significantly lower the costs for entrepreneurs associated with information search, compliance verification, and navigating bureaucratic complexities.The second channel involves the optimization of the regional business credit environment.The availability of public data, particularly that related to corporate registration, legal records, tax compliance, and other credibility-related information(where permissible),helps mitigate information asymmetry between market participants.Heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the entrepreneurship-promoting effect of public data opening is not uniform across all regions.The effect is markedly more pronounced in regions characterized by:(1) lower perceived uncertainty among entrepreneurs(proxied, for instance, by lower regional economic volatility or a more stable policy environment),suggesting that data's value is amplified in contexts where foundational uncertainties are already managed;(2) larger population sizes, indicating that the benefits of data scale with market potential, demand agglomeration, and a thicker labor market;(3) geographically advantageous locations(e.g.,coastal cities, major transportation hubs),which likely possess better complementary infrastructure, higher connectivity, and greater absorptive capacity to leverage the opened data.Its efficacy is contingent upon and magnified by the interplay with regional endowment conditions, including human capital, market potential, and physical infrastructure.Data alone is insufficient; it requires fertile ground to yield maximum impact.Based on these results, this paper suggests that efforts should be made in a coordinate manner across multiple dimensions, such as improving the data opening system, strengthening platform security construction, and advancing entrepreneurship supporting policies, to fully stimulate the value of data elements and drive the enhancement of regional entrepreneurial vitality through digital transformation.