The Impact Of Digital Services Trade Barriers On Total Factor Productivity

In recent years,the service sector has been transitioning to digitization.In 2020,the digital economy added value of the tertiary industry accounted for 43.9%of the industrial added value,much higher than that of the primary industry(8.0%)and the secondary industry(24.1%),so digital service trade has become the focus of attention of all countries.At the same time,a series of restrictive measures on digital service trade initiated by various countries have led to increasingly serious barriers to digital service trade.Exploring the impact of digital service trade barriers on total factor productivity and its mechanism is of great significance for China to better deal with the relevant issues in the field of digital service trade barriers and promote the high-quality development of digital service trade.This paper first sorted out the relevant connotation concepts of digital service trade barriers and total factor productivity,reviewed the literature related to digital service trade,digital service trade barriers and the relationship of the digital service with total factor productivity,and made a brief analysis of the current situation of digital service trade and its barriers with the help of published reports and databases.Secondly,based on the relevant theories of international trade,the mechanism analysis of the path of digital service trade barriers affecting total factor productivity is carried out.Then the DEA-Malmquist productivity index method is used to measure and analyze the total factor productivity of the sample countries.Finally,using the panel data of 43 sample countries from 2014 to 2019,the two-way fixed-effect model is constructed to empirically study the relationship between digital service trade barriers and total factor productivity,and the heterogeneity analysis is further conducted according to policy heterogeneity and national heterogeneity grouping.The mechanism analysis examines the effect mechanism of digital service trade barriers on total factor productivity.The conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)International digital service trade barriers are increasingly strong.From the perspective of subdivision,the current restrictive measures of digital service trade are still mainly concentrated in the field of infrastructure and connectivity.From a national perspective,the digital service trade barriers of developed countries are significantly lower than those of developing countries,but the development speed is higher than that of developing countries.(2)Digital service trade barriers promote the improvement of total factor productivity.Digital service trade barriers have a significant protective effect on digital service trade at present.(3)Digital service trade barriers affect total factor productivity through protection effect and trade effect.The emergence and strengthening of digital service trade barriers have played a role in increasing domestic employment and improving total factor productivity.At the same time,digital service trade barriers have a promoting effect on export,but have a hindering effect on import,but the promoting effect on export is greater than the hindering effect on import,showing a promoting effect on the whole.(4)The impact of digital service trade barriers on total factor productivity varies in different countries.Digital service trade barriers in countries with high R&D investment,high gross enrollment rate of higher education and high dependence on service trade have more significant positive promoting effect on total factor productivity.Secondly,there are differences in the impact of digital service trade barriers on total factor productivity in different segments,and "infrastructure and connectivity" and "intellectual property" have a significant positive correlation with total factor productivity,while "payment system field" and "other barrier areas" have a significant relationship with total factor productivity.