| With the development of big data,cloud computing and other digital technologies,the application of industrial robots in the manufacturing industry has become more and more common,bringing a wide and far-reaching impact on the economy and society.Data from the International Federation of Robotics(IFR)shows that China’s industrial robot industry is developing rapidly.In 2016,the stock of industrial robots in China reached 350,000,surpassing Japan for the first time to become the country with the largest stock of industrial robots in the world.At the same time,as the main driving force of China’s export trade,the manufacturing industry is facing a series of difficulties,such as weak external demand,high trade barriers,and the gradual loss of labor dividends.As one of the most important technical applications in the field of artificial intelligence,industrial robots can cause chain reactions in production efficiency,product upgrading,factor structure optimization and other aspects,and then have an impact on product export.In this context,this thesis intends to explore the following issues:Can the application of industrial robots improve the export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry?Does the application of industrial robots in cities with different locations,industries and factor endowments have a heterogeneous impact on the export competitiveness of manufacturing industries?In what way do industrial robots affect the export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry?In this paper,276 cities in China were selected as the research objects.The period from 2006 to 2015 was used as the sample interval,and the revealed comparative advantage(RCA)index and the density of industrial robots were used as the proxy variables for the export competitiveness of manufacturing industry and the application level of industrial robots,respectively.For the calculation of the density index of industrial robots,the International Federation of Robotics only provides the data of industrial robots at the national and industrial levels,but does not provide the data of industrial robots at the urban level in China.Therefore,this paper refers to the method of Acemoglu and Restrepo(2017).The industrial robot density(the number of industrial robots per million people)at the prefecture level was constructed using the data of industrial robots in the manufacturing industry provided by the International Federation of Robotics and the number of manufacturing jobs at the prefecture level in China provided by the Industrial Enterprise database.To avoid the employment of income growth across different segments of manufacturing industry differences influence on the calculation results,this paper will be the international federation of robot and the manufacturing industry enterprise database matching classification,eight manufacturing industry segments are calculated separately,and the density of industrial robots and aggregation,with employment prefecture level density of industrial robots in China.In terms of empirical test,this paper uses the double fixed effects model validation industrial robot export competitiveness of manufacturing material impact,secondly points sample regression,test of different location,industry and urban development of factor endowments industrial robot impact on manufacturing exports competitive differentiation.Finally,through the mediation effect test,the paper explores the effect channels of industrial robots on the export competitiveness of manufacturing industry.Through empirical test and analysis,the research conclusions of this paper mainly include the following three aspects:(1)The application of industrial robots has a significant positive impact on the export competitiveness of the manufacturing industry,which is specifically manifested as the increase of the density of industrial robots by each unit will increase the export competitiveness of the manufacturing industry by 1.4 percentage points.After passing a variety of robustness tests and endogeneity tests,the regression results are still significant.(2)There are regional differences,inter-industry differences and urban factor endowment differences in the influence of industrial robots on the export competitiveness of manufacturing industry,which are reflected in the impact on the eastern coastal areas is higher than that on the western areas,and the impact on transportation,electronic optics and other industries is higher than that of food and beverage,wood products and other industries.The impact on high-density cities is higher than that of low-density cities,and the impact on high-skilled labor cities is higher than that of low-skilled labor cities.(3)Taking the effect of technological innovation,labor cost effect and factor structure optimization effect into the overall analysis framework,it is found that the application of industrial robots can promote the export competitiveness of manufacturing industry through three channels:promoting technological innovation,reducing labor costs and promoting factor structure optimization.Finally,based on the above study,this paper provides some policy implications.While vigorously developing industrial robots in China,it is necessary to pay attention to regional differences and inter-industry differences.It is also necessary to plan the development of industrial robots step by step,support high-quality human capital for the deep integration of industrial robots and manufacturing,improve employment security mechanism,and reduce the impact of job market caused by the development of industrial robots. |
