Abstract: The construction of government services informatization is not only an inherent requirement for the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, but also a crucial lever for ensuring high-quality economic development in the new development stage. Using the national pilot cities for information-based public services as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper conducts an empirical study based on the panel data from 287 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2021. The findings show that the implementation of the national pilot city policy for information-based public services has significantly enhanced the total factor productivity(TFP) level of pilot cities compared to non-pilot cities, indicating that the informatization of government services promoted by the pilot policy has a promoting effect on high-quality economic development. The heterogeneity analysis results show that the role of informatization of government services is stronger in cities located in the eastern region, with larger scales, more advanced information infrastructure, and higher levels of human capital. The channel tests reveal that the informatization of government services reduces institutional transaction costs and improves public service levels, which can promote high-quality economic development by enhancing urban technological innovation and stimulating entrepreneurial vitality. The above conclusions imply that accelerating the informatization of government services and formulating development policies tailored to local conditions are key to further leveraging the driving role of government governance in high-quality economic development.

Key words: informatization of government services, high-quality economic development, technological innovation, entrepreneurial vitality