Digitalization and Service Trade—A Study Based on China's Provincial Panel Data
Clarifying whether and how digital construction can promote the development of service trade will provide theoretical support for facilitating the dual circulation of domestic and international service trade and designing incentive-compatible policies.This study measures the level of digitalization in China's provinces and cities from two dimensions:digital infrastructure and digital living standards.It empirically analyzes the impact and mechanisms of digitalization on service trade.The findings show that:(1)Digitalization has a positive impact on service trade,but with evident heterogeneous characteristics.The level of digital infrastructure has little influence on service trade imports and exports,while the level of digital living standards significantly affects both.A 1%increase in digital living standards leads to a 1.014%and 1.378%increase in service trade imports and exports,respectively.(2)Mediation effect analysis reveals that improving the level of digital construction in each province positively impacts industrial structure optimization and technological innovation.However,industrial structure and technological innovation only significantly influence service trade imports,with no significant effect on exports.(3)Policy evaluation analysis indicates that the introduction of relevant digital policies by provinces has positive implications for reducing service trade imports,expanding exports,and lowering trade deficits.(4)Heterogeneity analysis shows that digital living standards positively impact both productive and living service industries'import and export trade,while digital infrastructure levels only positively influence the exports of these two service industries.The impact of digitalization on service trade varies across different economic and geographical regions in China.Enhancing digital infrastructure and digital living standards can promote service imports in the eastern and central regions,but digital infrastructure has no impact on service trade imports in the western region.The study's conclusions provide new empirical evidence and decision-making references for adjusting and optimizing China's digitalization and service trade policies.First,digital infrastructure construction should be vigorously promoted to narrow the gap between the eastern and western regions,supporting the development of the digital platform economy and sharing economy,enriching residents'digital lives,and continuously cultivating new forms and models of the service industry.Second,the integration of digital technology and the service industry should be encouraged,empowering service industries with trade potential through digitalization,such as productive service industries like transportation,logistics,insurance,finance,engineering,and construction,as well as living service industries like cultural tourism,remote healthcare,online education,and entertainment services,to enhance the service industry's international competitiveness.Third,digital empowerment of traditional manufacturing industries should be promoted,cultivating new productive service industries such as intellectual property,digital technology,comprehensive foreign trade services,and headquarters economy,fostering new growth points for the development of China's service trade.
DigitalizationService tradeIndustrial structureTechnological innovationMulti-DID Model
万方数据
