Border Revitalization Policy And Export Competitiveness

China’s border areas are vast,with numerous neighboring countries,mainly composed of ethnic minorities,and have a relatively slow economic development.To vigorously develop border trade is important for facilitating economic growth and building a double-cycle pattern in border areas.In order to promote the development of export trade in the border areas,the government has promulgated a mass of policies to revitalize the border areas,among which the Action to Revitalize Border Areas and Enrich the People(ARBAEP)with the purpose of "revitalizing the border and enriching the border people" provides strong policy support for the high-quality development of trade in the border areas.Although the development of export trade along the border has made good achievements in recent years,domestic research in the field of trade is mainly focused on the general trade,less research on our border trade,so it is of vital significance to research the effect of border policy on export competitiveness of enterprises along the border for enriching the research in the field of border trade.Besides,it is of practical significance to explore the impact of national border revitalization policies on export trade in border areas to maintain national unity,sustain border stability,boost economic and social development in border areas.This paper first reviews the literature about ARBAEP,export competitiveness and the connection between them,and then analyzes the policy background of ARBAEP and the actuality of economic and trade development in the border areas.Next,we expounds the mechanism of the action to influence the export competitiveness of enterprises in the border areas.On this basis,this paper uses the data of "enterprise-destination country-product" level from 2006 to 2013 to explore the influence and mechanism of ARBAEP on the export competitiveness of enterprises in border areas.Furthermore,we conducts a dynamic decomposition of export competitiveness and tests the industrial structure effect of ARBAEP.The results show that ARBAEP significantly promotes the export competitiveness of enterprises in the border areas.Among them,the policy effect of enterprises in the northwest border areas is stronger than that of enterprises in the northeast and southwest border areas.Compared to companies trading with neighboring countries,companies trading with non-neighboring countries are more responsive to policy shock.The policy effect of technology and capital intensive enterprises is more significant than that of labor intensive enterprises.State-owned enterprises are more sensitive than private and foreign enterprises,and processing trade enterprises are more sensitive than general trade one.The mechanism test shows that the main effect of the policy is to improve the financial situation and innovation ability of enterprises,promote the industrial agglomeration and enhance the position of division of labor.The structural effect test shows that ARBAEP improves the intra-firm,inter-firm and entry effect,but also inhibits the exit effect and weakens the screening effect of the market mechanism.The policy implications of this paper are as follows:First of all,the sustained promotion of the border revitalization policy is conducive to accelerating the high-quality development of border trade and achieving common prosperity.Secondly,we should strengthen support for state-owned enterprises in key industries related to the national welfare and people’s livelihood,while focusing on promoting the large-scale development of private enterprises.Thirdly,we should strengthen targeted policy support for capital-intensive industries,make up for the weakness of industry development,and promote the transformation of industry structure.Fourthly,the regional integration strategy should be used to continuously promote the high-quality development of the northwest border trade.Meanwhile,according to the trend of industrial renewal and iteration,a complete industrial system should be established in the northeast border region,and the supply of public goods should be increased in the southwest border region.Fifthly,we should make good use of two kinds of policy tools,bank credit and fiscal subsidies,focus on guiding enterprises to improve their R&D and innovation ability,promote the improvement of enterprise division of labor position,and promote local industrial agglomeration.