Digital Infrastructure And Domestic Value-added Of Service Exports

With the rapid development of digital technology and communication technology,digital infrastructure,as an important development factor of "Hard Conditions",has been stimulating a new round of innovation in the service industry.At the same time,with the gradual formation of the "Global Digital Chain" based on information technology and the Internet,which includes all contents of digital services,competition has been introduced into the digital development process that used to be monopolized.Therefore,the market is in urgent need of government regulation to play an important role in the "Soft Environment".In the context of the widening of the digital divide and the digital service trade restrictiveness index(DSTRI)as an important institutional factor in the development of global trade,this paper focuses on the empirical study of the domestic value-added of digital infrastructure and service exports,and examines the role of the restriction of digital service trade.Based on the OECD-TiVA Trade value Added database,this paper uses the domestic value-added(DVA)data of bilateral service exports of 37 countries during 2014-2018,and introduces the mobile broadband subscriptions per million people of the World Bank and other relevant indicators to measure a country’s digital infrastructure by using the principal component analysis method.Then,the industrial digital intensity of 15 service sectors which calculated according to the standards and methods proposed by Qi Junyan and Ren Yida(2021)times infrastructure of countries is the core explanatory variable.OLS regression method was used for baseline regression,and different methods such as fixed effects,instrumental variables and tail reduction were adopted to verify the stability of regression results.The regression results show that digital infrastructure in exporting countries inhibits the increase of DVA of service exports,while in importing countries,on the contrary.In terms of heterogeneity: overall,the result of baseline regression still holds,but countries with different levels of digital economy development,service industries with different knowledge-intensive degrees and different types of digital infrastructure have certain particularities.For example,digital infrastructure in importing and exporting countries with high levels of digital economy development may promote DVA while the digital infrastructure of the exporting countries with low level can inhibit DVA.Taking the domestic value-added rate(DVAR)of service exports as the explained variable,it is further found that the soft and hard environment of importing country has no significant influence,while the digital infrastructure of exporting country has an inhibitory effect on the DVAR of service export.Secondly,this paper explores the moderating effect of restrictions on digital service trade,including endogeneity treatment and heterogeneity analysis.The results show that: restrictions on digital service trade both in importing and exporting countries weaken the effect,and there is a certain substitution relationship between soft and hard environments.Drawing on the aforementioned research findings and taking into account the prevailing social landscape,this study proffers practical and viable policy recommendations for "Hard Conditions" in digital infrastructure and "Soft Environment" constraints on digital service trade.To illustrate,by tailoring our service trade environment to the unique characteristics of our partner nations’ digital trade policies,we can optimize our digital technology development and elevate China’s position in the global service value chain.