Research On The Influence Of Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zone Construction On Liaoning’s Import Trade

Since the reform and opening up,the degree of China’s opening up to the outside world has been increasing and the open areas have been widening.While opening up to the outside world,China has also enjoyed the dividends of opening up to the outside world,and its economy has achieved rapid growth and grown into the second largest economy in the world.However,after the financial crisis,trade protectionism has risen and anti-globalization thinking has emerged.Western countries,led by the United States,have been suppressing China and trying to exclude China from the new world trade system.As an important force in maintaining economic globalization,China has steadfastly promoted opening up to the outside world.As an important means to expand the level and deepth of opening up,Free Trade Pilot Zones have been established,and six batches of 21 free trade pilot zones have been set up.These Pilot Free Trade Zones have gradually formed a multi-level opening pattern of north-south coordination,east-west coordination and coastal,border,river and inland.The Pilot Free Trade Zones explore new paths and models of reform and opening up,and are "testing grounds" to promote reform and innovation of the national economic system,providing innovative demonstrations for China’s comprehensive deepening of economic system reform.The Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zone was established in 2017,providing a good opportunity for the economic development of Liaoning.The first part of this paper is divided into five parts.The first part is a literature review,in which we sort out the analytical methods used by various literatures in analyzing the policy effects of the FTZ,the effects of the establishment of the FTZ on imports,the findings of the current academic research on the Liaoning FTZ and the factors affecting import trade.It is found that the existing literature lacks both studies related to the import trade effects of the FTZ and empirical analysis of the economic effects of the establishment of the Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zone.The second part of the paper is a theoretical and mechanism analysis,which analyzes the theoretical basis and mechanism of the free trade pilot zone affecting the local import trade volume and trade patterns,and finds that the free trade pilot zone affects import trade through the economic growth effect,trade facilitation effect,and institutional cost reduction effect.The third part of the paper is the analysis of the current situation.The author analyzes the current economic situation of Liaoning Province and the basic situation of the Pilot Free Trade Zone as well as the positioning of each zone,and finds that the Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zone has made promising construction achievements since its establishment,but there is still a certain gap compared with the Pilot Free Trade Zones established in the same period.This is followed by an analysis of the development of import trade in Liaoning,recognizing the reality that the level of import trade in Liaoning ranks among the top in the country,with the proportion of general trade continuing to increase and the proportion of processing trade decreasing.The fourth part of the empirical analysis,based on the synthetic control method,uses other provinces and cities that have not established Pilot Free Trade Zones as control groups,and uses provincial quarterly panel data to empirically study the impact of the establishment of the Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zones on the import trade volume and import trade patterns in Liaoning.It is found that the establishment of the Pilot Free Trade Zones significantly increases the import trade volume and changes the import trade mode of Liaoning,with the share of general trade relative to processing trade in total imports increasing.Finally,the fifth part summarizes the conclusions and makes policy recommendations for the problems faced in the development of the Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zone,arguing that the urgent task for Liaoning is to accelerate the transformation of government functions,make use of the excellent policy innovation platform provided by the Pilot Free Trade Zone,innovate government functions,optimize office processes,extend the reform measures of the Pilot Free Trade Zone to the whole province,and optimize the business environment.It will also continue to promote institutional innovation,optimize trade and industrial structure,and strengthen the cultivation and introduction of talents to help Liaoning develop better and faster through the platform of the Pilot Free Trade Zone.Based on the current situation that there are few studies on the Liaoning Free Trade Pilot Zone and a few literature studies are limited to qualitative analysis without empirical analysis.This paper takes the import trade effects of the Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zone as the research object,and innovates in terms of research objects and research perspectives.However,because the construction of the fourth batch of Pilot Free Trade Zone kicked off soon after the establishment of the Liaoning Pilot Free Trade Zone,the observation period selected in this paper is short in order to ensure that the number of control groups is sufficient,and the long-term effects of the establishment of the Pilot Free Trade Zone are not covered.