| The fourth industrial revolution and technological innovation have overturned the global trade system and marked a fundamental change in the global economy.In this new wave of industrial revolution,China’s digital economy is developing steadily and the foundation of digital transformation is becoming more and more solid,and it is urgent to study how to empower high-level opening up through digital transformation in line with the strategy of building a strong trade country.This paper places digital transformation and regional trade competitiveness under the same research framework,and discusses the impact paths and ways of digital transformation on regional trade competitiveness based on provincial panel data and spatial perspective,including direct effect,spatial spillover effect and moderating effect.First,this paper integrates previous studies,constructs a digital transformation indicator system,and uses the entropy value method to measure and analyze the digital transformation capability of domestic provinces(cities and autonomous regions)from 2011-2021(except Tibet,Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan).Secondly,this paper draws on Yao(2019)method for measuring trade competitiveness,by matching the subdivided import and export products from the national research network and the United Nations statistical database,and measuring product trade competitiveness from the dual perspectives of trade share and trade profit,and then aggregating to the regional level to derive regional trade competitiveness.Finally,this paper mainly uses the SDM model to study the impact of digital transformation on regional trade competitiveness,and draws the following conclusions:(1)From the results of the global Moran index and local Moran index,digital transformation and regional trade competitiveness both have spatial positive correlation characteristics,and both show high-high aggregation and low-low aggregation characteristics;(2)From the regression results of the national sample,digital transformation is an important driving force and grip for national economic and trade development,and the digital transformation capability of each region significantly plays a role in improving local regional trade competitiveness,and positively influences neighboring regions’ trade competitiveness through spatial spillover effects;(3)From the regression results of the sub-sample,there is regional heterogeneity and trade direction heterogeneity in both the direct effect of digital transformation on regional trade competitiveness and spatial spillover effects;(4)From the results of the mechanism test,the rise of economic policy uncertainty will inhibit the spatial spillover effect of digital transformation to enhance regional trade competitiveness.Based on this,this paper proposes suggestions in terms of absorbing the digital transformation dividend,reducing domestic and foreign trade barriers,and integrating financial power. |
