跨境电商平台克服了哪些贸易成本?——来自“敦煌网”数据的经验证据

Internet and Trade Costs: An Empirical Analysis Based on Cross-border E-commerce Data from China SME Exports

已有研究认为,跨境电商平台降低了贸易成本、促进了企业出口,但是对于跨境电商平台降低贸易成本的作用机制还没有直接的证据。本文应用中国最大的中小企业跨境电商平台“敦煌网”2013—2016年的国际、省级和行业级别的跨境出口数据以及相关宏观数据,从出口目的国和出口生产地双重视角判别跨境电商中不同类型的贸易成本对出口贸易的规模及结构影响。实证结果表明:(1)跨境电商能够有效降低国际贸易中的固定成本(如市场规模),但对可变成本(如关税)更加敏感;(2)跨境电商有助于克服生产的固定成本,对生产的可变成本(如劳动力成本)更加敏感;(3)互联网发展水平对跨境电商的规模和结构占比均有显著的促进作用。进一步分析表明,跨境电商克服了诸多贸易成本因素的阻碍,拓展了贸易边界;同时跨境电商为非沿海省份、高附加值行业提供了国际贸易的新机遇。本文为跨境电商促进国际贸易的作用机制提供了更直接的新证据,并为我国大力发展跨境电商提供了决策参考。

Studies show that cross-border e-commerce platforms reduce trade costs and promote exports,but there is no direct evidence of the mechanisms of these effects.We thus analyze international,provincial and industry level cross-border export data for 2013-2016 and relevant macro data from DH.com,the largest cross-border e-commerce platform for small and medium-sized enterprises in China,to investigate the effects of different types of trade costs on the scale and structure of export trade from the dual perspectives of export destination and export orientation.(1)We discuss the influence of different types of trade costs(i.e.,fixed cost and variable cost)on export scale and structure in cross-border e-commerce,and we find that cross-border e-commerce helps to reduce fixed trade costs,but is sensitive to variable costs in trade.(2)We explore the similarities and differences between other factors affecting trade cost in cross-border e-commerce environments and total export trade environments,and find that language,exchange rate,border and other trade-cost factors no longer play a significant role in cross-border e-commerce environments.The results also suggest that the effect of geographical distance on cross-border e-commerce is substantially positive;that is,cross-border e-commerce helps to overcome the barriers of physical trade costs and expand export trade to distant markets.(3)We investigate the influence of the Internet environment on the development of cross-border e-commerce,and find that the extent of Internet development is directly and positively correlated with the scale of cross-border e-commerce and the proportion of overall export volumes comprising cross-border e-commerce.We also analyze the relationship between cross-border e-commerce and trade cost in different regions and industries from the perspective of export orientation.The details are as follows.(1)We discuss the influence of the location costs of fixed-cost trade on cross-border e-commerce exports from the perspective of production provinces.The results show that cross-border e-commerce helps to overcome the fixed cost of production,while the location cost of trade no longer plays an important role.(2)We examine the effects of transportation-time cost and labor cost on cross-border e-commerce from the perspective of the manufacturing industry.The empirical results show that cross-border e-commerce is more sensitive to labor cost than transportation-time cost.Further analysis shows that the development of cross-border e-commerce is positively related to the per capita disposable income and educational investment of a province,and in inverse proportion to the unemployment rate of a province;and that the exportation of cross-border e-commerce is primarily performed by industries with high average customer prices,high levels of foreign investment,and a high degree of standardization.Most of the existing research focuses on the effects of the Internet on macro level,mature channels and large and medium-sized enterprises;there is insufficient analysis of cross-border e-commerce platforms and small and medium-sized enterprises specializing in online trade.The contributions of our study are as follows.(1)We confirm the link between cross-border e-commerce and reduced trade costs,and find that the Internet reduces fixed costs in international trade,but is more sensitive to variable costs.(2)We combine actual transactional data on cross-border e-commerce platforms with the corresponding macro data,which is a unique and innovative approach.(3)We adopt the dual perspective of export destination and export orientation to effectively connect information on export destinations,provinces,and industries in China.Our study enriches the research on the Internet and international trade,and provides in-depth analyses of sub-regions and sub-industries critical to the vigorous development of cross-border e-commerce in China.We thus supply more direct new evidence of the mechanisms by which cross-border e-commerce promotes international trade,and provide references for the further development of cross-border e-commerce in China.