| With the advent of the digital era,the world economy is in a gear-shifting period of dynamic energy.The digital economy,based on digital technology and driven by innovation,is increasingly becoming a new driving force for economic development,and trade,as a key link in the allocation of resources in economic activities,is also undergoing profound changes in digitalization.In November 2019,the Guidance Opinions of the State Council of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Promoting High-Quality Development of Trade formally proposed to "accelerate the development of digital trade ",digital trade has become a new focus in the development of global trade and a high point of future international trade competition,and it is important and far-reaching to explore the new path of building a strong trade nation in China in the context of the digital economy era.This paper draws on the theoretical research results and practical exploration experience of digital trade and export product quality at home and abroad,and follows the research line of "theoretical foundation-development status-research hypothesis-empirical test-countermeasure suggestions".Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China,except Tibet,from 2013 to 2020,I analyse the impact of China’s digital trade development level on regional export product quality and its mechanism,and then propose corresponding countermeasures.The main research conclusions are:(1)China’s regions have great potential for digital trade development but the development of different areas is obviously unevenness,with the eastern region having a higher level of digital trade development,while the central and western regions still have more room for improvement in digital trade development,which is not only reflected in the differences in information technology infrastructure construction,Internet coverage,information technology application environment and other aspects,but also in the results of information technology application and the disparity in the comprehensive strength and level of regional information technology development;(2)the overall trend of China’s export product quality is on the rise.By time period,the quality of China’s export products was higher between 2013 and 2018;by region,the quality of export products in the eastern region was significantly higher than that in the central and western regions;(3)the development of digital trade has significantly improved the quality of China’s regional export products.On the one hand,the higher the competitiveness of the core products of enterprises in each region,the more likely they are to dominate the export market,and digital trade can greatly enhance the competitiveness of IV enterprises,which in turn improves the quality of their core products.On the other hand,digital trade reduces the influence of geographical distance on international trade,reduces the intermediate links of trade,and reduces trade costs while achieving direct contact between producers and consumers to provide customized services,which is also conducive to promoting the improvement of export product quality;(4)digital trade has heterogeneous effects on the improvement of export product quality in various regions of China;(5)The development of digital trade can significantly improve the quality of differentiated export products,but has no significant impact on the quality improvement of homogeneous products and reference price products;(6)Digital trade mainly has an effect on the improvement of export product quality through the intermediary path of trade costs and diversified and specialised industrial clustering.(7)With the development of digital trade and the innovation of digital information technology,the diversification of industrial agglomeration is promoted while the specialization of industrial agglomeration is inhibited.Diversified clusters of industries can contribute to the quality of export products through multiple sharing,inter-industry innovation,spillover effects and synergistic development of related industries. |
