Research On The Impact Of Digital Trade Rules On Digital Trade

Digital trade has become a new growth point of global trade.With the arrival of the digital economy era,the development of international digital trade is in the ascendant,especially in the recent years when the new epidemic has been raging,digital trade has broken through the restrictions of time and space and emerged as a new force in the international economic adversity.Traditional trade in services has gradually turned to digitalization.At the same time,data itself is valuable and is a tradable element and service,which greatly expands the scope of digital trade.Whether developed or developing countries,the development of digital trade is extremely rapid,and digital trade has gradually become an important force driving the global economic recovery.Economic activities need to be carried out under a certain framework of rules,and digital trade is no exception.However,contrary to the strong development momentum of digital trade,the development of global digital trade rules is not smooth,or even stagnant.Under the background that the construction of a global unified framework of digital trade rules is blocked,countries actively promote the development of digital trade rules in regional trade agreements.It can be said that the digital trade rules in RTAs are closely related to the development of international digital trade.Examining the relationship between the two is important for countries to promote digital trade and better understand their role in regional negotiations on digital trade rules.This thesis first introduces the research background,significance and research methods,and then reviews the relevant research literature on digital trade rules and digital trade and makes a brief comment.It finds that the current research on the relationship between the two is not sufficient,especially the empirical research.Then it analyzes the development status and trend of digital trade rules and digital trade,and clarifies the research subject.At the same time,it also makes a preliminary assumption and theoretical analysis on the internal connection mechanism between the two.Finally,the thesis makes an empirical analysis on the impact of digital trade rules on digital trade in regional trade agreements.Based on the Regional Trade Agreement(RTA)signed by G20 countries and the amount of digital trade between them,this thesis analyzes the impact of digital trade rules on digital trade.The research conclusions are as follows: 1.The digital trade rules in RTAs promote the development of digital trade,and both the breadth and depth of digital trade rules have significant positive effects on the development of digital trade.This result is still stable in multiple tests.2.Further exploration of the heterogeneous impact of digital trade rules on digital trade shows that:(1)e-commerce clauses and digital intellectual property clauses in the four categories of digital trade rules can effectively promote the development of digital trade,while data clauses in the data flow clauses and service chapters have no significant impact on digital trade;(2)The promotion effect of digital trade rules covered in RTAs on digital trade is most significant among developed economies,but on the contrary,digital trade rules signed between developing economies have not significantly promoted the development of digital trade between them;The regression result between developed economies and developing economies is significantly positive,but it does not reach the level among developed economies;(3)In the case of subsectors,the digital trade rules in RTAs have significant promoting effects on the six sectors of "insurance","finance","intellectual property","telecommunications","other business services" and "personal entertainment services".Among them,the digital trade rules have the strongest promoting effect on the financial sector and the telecommunications sector,while the impact on the insurance sector is the smallest.Finally,based on the research conclusion,the thesis gives reasonable suggestions: to promote the development of domestic digital trade,China should actively promote the conclusion of digital trade chapters in multilateral and bilateral negotiations,and propose a "Chinese style template" that meets its own interests.