Has COVID-19 Changed China's Digital Trade?—Implications for Health Economics

Frontiers in Public Health

article

Feng Hu¹  Liping Qiu¹  Xun Xi²  Haiyan Zhou³  Tianyu Hu⁴  Ning Su⁵  Haitao Zhou⁵  Xiaolei Li⁶  Shaobo Yang⁷  Zhigang Duan⁸  Zenan Dong⁹  Zongjian Wu⁷  Haibo Zhou⁷  Ming Zeng⁷  Ting Wan⁷  Shaobin Wei³ 

[1] Global Value Chain Research Center, Zhejiang Gongshang University;School of Management, Shandong Technology and Business University;Institute of Spatial Planning and Design, Zhejiang University City College;School of Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University;School of MBA, Zhejiang Gongshang University;China State Construction International Investments ,(Zhejiang Province) Ltd.;Research Centre;Jinhua JG Tools Manufacturing Co., Ltd.;Sales Department

关键词: COVID-19;    digital trade;    Chinese exports;    natural experiments;    generalized difference-in-differences;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2022.831549

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Digital technologies have played a significant role in the defense against the COVID-19 pandemic. This development raises the question of whether digital technologies have helped Chinese exports recover quickly and even grow. To answer this question, we study monthly data on Chinese exports to 40 countries/regions from January 2019 to June 2020 and covering 97 product categories. The study takes the COVID-19 outbreak as a natural experiment and treats digital trade products as the treatment group. Using a generalized difference-in-differences (DID) approach, we empirically investigate how this major global public health crisis and digital trade have influenced Chinese exports. Our empirical analysis reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has inhibited China's export trade overall, digital trade has significantly promoted trade, and the supply mechanism has played a significant role in promoting the recovery of exports. Heterogeneity tests on destination countries/regions reveal that digital trade has significantly promoted exports to countries/regions with different income levels, with a more significant effect on low-risk destinations than on high-risk destinations. The sector heterogeneity test demonstrates that digital trade has enhanced the export recovery of sectors dealing in necessities for pandemic prevention. Other robustness tests, including parallel trend and placebo tests, support the above conclusions. Finally, we extend the research conclusions and discuss their implication for health economics and the practice of fighting COVID-19.

【 授权许可】

CC BY