Zhang Linlin, Pan An, Feng Shuangshuang, Qin Yaoyao
School of Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
School of Finance & Economics, Wuhan College, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
PLoS One. 2022 Jun 3;17(6):e0269314. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269314. eCollection 2022.
The development of the digital economy is conducive to the innovative development of foreign trade and the formation of a "dual circulation" development pattern in China. Based on the panel data of 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2019, this paper examines the influence of the digital economy on urban export trade and its heterogeneity. And we use a mediating effect model to explore the possible mediating role of technological progress in the above influences. The results find that: (1) The improvement of the digital economy can promote cities export; (2) The promotion of the digital economy to the growth of city export scale is heterogeneous, which is more significant in the western and northeastern cities with relatively remote geographical locations, and the third-tier and lower cities with relatively backward economic development. (3) Technological progress has played a significant role in promoting the growth of export for the digital economy. Thus, it's of great importance for China to increase investment in digital economy infrastructure and pay more attention to the differences in diverse city development processes. It should also support basic research and development in information technology to promote high-quality development of China's foreign trade through the digital economy.
数字经济的发展有利于对外贸易的创新发展以及中国“双循环”发展格局的形成。基于2005年至2019年中国285个地级市的面板数据，本文考察了数字经济对城市出口贸易的影响及其异质性。并且我们使用中介效应模型来探究技术进步在上述影响中可能起到的中介作用。研究结果发现：（1）数字经济的提升能够促进城市出口；（2）数字经济对城市出口规模增长的促进作用具有异质性，在地理位置相对偏远的西部和东北部城市以及经济发展相对落后的三线及以下城市更为显著。（3）技术进步在数字经济促进出口增长方面发挥了显著作用。因此，中国加大对数字经济基础设施的投资并更加关注不同城市发展过程中的差异至关重要。还应支持信息技术的基础研发，以通过数字经济推动中国对外贸易的高质量发展。
