Digital Economy’s Contribution to Sustainable Trade in Services: Empirical Evidence from China

期刊: 《Educational Guide》 DOI:10.64649/yh.eg.2026010004 PDF下载 返回期刊

Zhang Ning, Zhou Jiexuan*

College of Business, Yancheng Teachers University

摘要

The digital economy has injected new momentum into the sustainable development of trade in services. Based on China’s provincial panel data from 2011 to 2022, this study empirically examines the impact of the digital economy on trade in services. The study finds that the digital economy has a significant impact on the development of trade in services, a finding that remains robust after addressing endogeneity and conducting robustness tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that the digital economy facilitates trade in services through two primary channels: promoting industrial structure upgrading and fostering new quality productive forces. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive effect is more pronounced in eastern coastal regions and economically developed areas. Further research reveals that the impact of the digital economy on trade in services follows a nonlinear pattern, with its effect closely related to the threshold range of new quality productive forces. To promote the sustainable development of trade in services, policymakers should strengthen digital infrastructure to consolidate the foundation of the digital economy, accelerate industrial transformation to cultivate new competitive advantages, prioritize the development of new quality productive forces as an innovation engine, and implement regionally differentiated strategies to promote coordinated growth.

关键词

Digital Economy; Empirical Evidence from China

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