贸易数字化、柔性生产力与出口产品质量——来自中国微观企业的经验证据

Trade Digitization,Flexible Productivity and Export Product Quality--Empirical EvidencefromChinese Firms

文章基于异质性企业的产品质量升级模型,将数字化转型决策引入其中,研究企业的贸易数字化转型对出口产品质量的影响。理论研究发现,贸易数字化通过增强企业的柔性生产力提高质量改进的固定成本效率,从而促进出口产品质量提升。借助大数据爬虫技术,识别企业自建主页以及使用国内电商平台或跨境电商平台的具体情况,据此构建测度企业贸易数字化水平的指标。实证研究发现,企业提高贸易数字化水平能显著提升出口产品质量,在一系列稳健性检验和内生性问题讨论后,该结论依旧稳健可信。进一步机制检验发现,柔性生产力是贸易数字化提升出口产品质量的重要渠道,且考虑不同样本期和替换新指标后该机制依旧稳健,特别是小微型、劳动密集型、初创型或一般贸易企业进行贸易数字化转型,更能通过该机制提升出口产品质量。数字技术的异质性分析发现,采用跨境电商平台对企业出口产品质量的提升效应最大。

This paper investigates the impact of digital transformation of firms'trade on the quality of export products by incorporating the decision-making process of digital transformation into the product quality upgrading model of heterogeneous firms.The findings suggest that trade digitization increases the efficiency of quality improvements'fixed costs through the improvement of firms'flexible productivity,ultimately leading to improved export product quality.To measure the level of firms'trade digitization,we use data crawler technology to collect information from firms'webpages,domestic platforms,and cross-border e-commerce platforms.Empirical analysis indicates that increasing the level of trade digitization significantly enhances the quality of export products.The robustness of these results is confirmed through a series of robustness tests and by addressing concerns related to endogeneity.Further analysis suggests that firms'flexible productivity is an important channel for trade digitization to improve the export product quality.This finding is still robust when considering alternative sample periods and measures.Notably,the positive effects are more pronounced for small,micro,labor-intensive,start-up,and general trade firms.Moreover,heterogeneity analysis of digital technologies suggests that firms with cross-border e-commerce platforms experience the greatest improvement in export product quality.