Research On The Impact Of Digital Economy On The Technological Complexity Of China’s Manufacturing Export

Manufacturing is the pillar industry of national economic development.Since China joined the World Trade Organization,China has gradually cultivated its international advantages in manufacturing exports with its population advantage and resource advantage,as well as technology spillover from developed countries.Now,China’s manufacturing industry is large in scale and comprehensive in variety,transitioning from low-end manufacturing to high-end intelligent manufacturing.The new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation has brought new development opportunities to countries around the world.At present,the digital economy,with its digital knowledge and information technology as its carrier,is penetrating into various industries,actively playing the role of stabilizer and accelerator.The improvement of China’s manufacturing technology complexity should take advantage of the good momentum of digital economic development to help promote China’s manufacturing exports to the high-end of the global value chain.The emerging digital economy is propelling traditional manufacturing industries towards digital transformation and upgrading.The deep integration of digital technology is infusing enterprises with innovation and production vitality,and the widespread application of information technology is enhancing the added value of manufacturing products.Consequently,exploring the impact of digital economic development on the export technical complexit of Chinese manufacturing and its underlying mechanisms is of great significance.Building upon the analysis of influencing mechanisms and development status,this thesis collects provincial panel data from 30 provinces in China for research,taking into consideration the availability of data and the beginning time of China’s digital economic development,with a sample time range from 2013 to 2020.First of all,this paper,through literature review and influencing mechanism analysis,hypothesizes that digital economic development is beneficial to the enhancement of manufacturing export technical complexit;in the process of digital economic development promoting the improvement of manufacturing export technical complexit,total factor productivity acts as a mediator.Subsequently,this paper adopts Hausmann’s EXPY calculation method to measure the export technical complexit of each province;through a digital economic index system,provincial digital economic indices are calculated;and DEAP software is utilized to measure total factor productivity.Finally,this paper employs a fixed effect model through Hausmann test,conducting baseline regressions and mediating effect tests with individual fixed effect models.Empirical results demonstrate that,at the provincial data level in China,the digital economy significantly promotes the increase of technological complexity in manufacturing exports;moreover,total factor productivity plays a partial mediating role in the process of digital economic development promoting increased manufacturing export technical complexit.The robustness test indicates the model’s robustness,and the heterogeneity analysis across regions reveals that the level of digital economic development has a more pronounced effect on the enhancement of manufacturing export technological complexity in inland and northern regions.Drawing on the foregoing analysis and research results,this paper ultimately proposes that digital economic development should be achieved by accelerating the construction of information and communication infrastructure,increasing investment in research and development and enhance the strength of policy incentives,promoting the digital transformation and upgrading of traditional industries,and promoting coordinated regional development of the digital economy to enhance export technical complexitexport of product.