Research On The Impact Of Higher Education Trade In Services On China’s Economic Growth

Classic literature and the practice of economic growth have proved that knowledge accumulation and technological progress are the driving force of endogenous economic growth,and human capital is an important carrier of knowledge and technology.Education is a crucial way to acquire knowledge,and higher education is one of the main ways to cultivate human capital.Higher Education Trade in Services can promote the effective allocation of educational resources in the global market,accumulating human capital,expanding the scale of trade and investment,promoting technological progress as well as creating emerging industries,and cultivate new driving forces and growth points for the economic development of participating countries.Since the 1990s,the pattern of China’s Education Opening-up has gradually taken shape,China’s Higher Education Trade in Services has the characteristics of large scale,rapid growth,significant growth both in trade volume and population,which has effectively improved China’s human capital level and injected vitality into the scale growth of trade in goods and OFDI,the development of high-tech industrial clusters and economic growth.In recent years,however,China is facing issues such as the fading demographic dividend and low efficiency of resource investment There is urgent to transform to an economic growth model driven by human capital and technological innovation.In this context,from the perspective of the special role of Higher Education Trade in Services in the formation of human capital,it is of great practical significance to study the impact and mechanism of Higher Education Trade in Services on China’s economic growth and explore the new driving force of economic growth.This research discusses the impact of Higher Education Trade in Services on economic growth from the perspectives of export and import respectively,and tries to explain the following questions:Why does Higher Education Trade in Services affect economic growth?How do the exports and imports affect economic growth?Are the mechanisms the same?Are there heterogeneity and spatial effect in this effect?In order to explain the above problems,this research is conducted from the following three aspects:theoretical analysis,typical facts and empirical test.Firstly,a two-state theoretical model and a four sector theoretical model are constructed,which demonstrate the mechanism of Higher Education Trade in Services affecting economic growth from export and import,and obtain seven theoretical hypotheses,such as Higher Education Trade in Services export promoting economic growth through goods trade and OFDI,Higher Education Trade in Services import promoting economic growth through technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading.Secondly,by comparing the typical facts of international education in China and trade volume in goods and OFDI,international education abroad and technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading,this research examines the relationship between Higher Education Trade in Services and economic growth.Thirdly,the number of foreign students in China from 2003 to 2018 is selected to represent the export scale of Higher Education Trade in Services,and the Benchmark Regression Model,Intermediary Effect Model are constructed to test the impact and mechanism of Higher Education Trade in Services export on economic growth.Then select the growth rate of the number of returned students in China from 1978 to 2019 to act as an agent for the import of higher education service trade,and construct a VAR model to verify the logical relationship between the import of Higher Education Trade in Services and economic growth.Besides,the number of returned students in China’s high-tech industrial development zones from 2014 to 2019 is selected to act as an agent for the import of Higher Education Trade in Services,and the Benchmark Regression Model,Intermediary Effect Model and Spatial Dobbin Model are constructed respectively to verify the impact and transmission mechanism of Higher Education Trade in Services import on economic growth in turn.The main conclusions of this research are as follows:Theoretical analysis shows that both export and import of Higher Education Trade in Services can produce the effect of human capital accumulation and promote economic growth.The export of Higher Education Trade in Services can expand the scale of bilateral trade in goods by reducing transaction costs,stimulating bilateral market demand and expanding the field of trade cooperation,and expand the scale of bilateral OFDI by shortening the cultural distance,strengthening information exchange and reducing the risk of default,promoting economic growth..The import of Higher Education Trade in Services can promote technological innovation by improving innovation ability,accelerating knowledge diffusion and establishing international talent network,and induce the upgrading of industrial structure by accelerating industrial transfer,optimizing the industrial development environment and giving birth to emerging industries,promoting economic growth.The fact analysis demonstrates that there is a positive correlation between Higher Education Trade in Services and economic growth.Firstly,China’s Higher Education Trade in Services export can bring direct benefits and promote economic growth.Secondly,the export of China’s Higher Education Trade in Services has a positive correlation with trade in goods and OFDI,especially with trade in goods,especially labor-intensive products and general goods.The spatial distribution of China’s higher education and technological innovation is related to the regional distribution and upgrading of higher education.The empirical analysis indicates that:Firstly,there is a significant positive correlation between the export of Higher Education Trade in Services and economic growth.Both goods trade and OFDI are the intermediary mechanisms of Higher Education Trade in Services export to promote economic growth,and the intermediary effect of goods trade is higher than that of OFDI.The effect intensity of Higher Education Trade in Services export on economic growth has obvious regional heterogeneity and the intensity is in the order of eastern region,central region,western region and northeast region.Moreover,degree students have a more significant role in promoting economic growth than non-degree students.Secondly,there is a significant positive correlation between Higher Education Trade in Services import and economic growth.Technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading are the intermediary mechanism of Higher Education Trade in Services import affecting economic growth,and the intermediary effect of technological innovation is lower than that of industrial structure upgrading.The role of Higher Education Trade in Services import in promoting economic growth shows significant regional heterogeneity,and the intensity is in the order of western region,northeast region,eastern region and central region.Thirdly,the import of Higher Education Trade in Services has a significant spatial spillover effect on economic growth.Technological innovation is the transmission mechanism of the spatial spillover effect,but the upgrading of industrial structure is not.The impact of the import of Higher Education Trade in Services in adjacent regions on the technological innovation and economic growth of the region is greater than the technological innovation and economic growth effect of the import of Higher Education Trade in Services in the region,which is related to the technology dissemination and diffusion ability,consumption ability and spatial feedback effect produced by the spatial spillover effect of returned students.Therefore,this research puts forward policy suggestions:First,strengthen the opening of higher education services and accelerate the accumulation of human capital.Second,expand the import of Higher Education Trade in Services and promote the transformation of economic growth.Third,improve the quality of education for foreign students in China and lay out a network of high-level talents.Fourth,increase the attractiveness of returned students and promote regional economic growth.Fifth,improve the exchange mechanism of returnees and drive the coordinated development of regional economy.