Study On The Impact Of Setting Up A Pilot Free Trade Zone On The Quality Of Export Products

Taking the first two batches of representative FTZs in China(including Shanghai,Tianjin,Guangdong and Fujian FTZs)as examples,this paper studies the impact of setting up FTZs on the quality of China’s export products and the analysis of the mechanism based on the matched data from China Industrial Enterprise Database and China Import and Export Customs Database.As the leaders of China’s FTZs,the first two batches of FTZs are more representative in promoting the transformation and upgrading of enterprises and enhancing the competitiveness of export products.So,how exactly does the establishment of FTZs affect the quality of export products? And through what channel does the establishment of the FTZ affect the quality of export products? To clarify these two issues,it is of great practical significance to further increase the opening-up efforts and promote high-level opening-up,so as to realize the achievements of the system innovation in the FTZ,and then replicate and promote the high-quality economic development in the country.Based on this,this paper firstly conducts a literature review and analysis of the current situation of the FTZ and export product quality,followed by a further discussion of the theoretical mechanism analysis.Subsequently,a detailed empirical study of the research object is conducted,and enterprises in the prefecture-level cities where the first two batches of free trade test zones are located are used as microscopic research samples,and the average value of export product quality of all enterprises in the region is obtained by using prefecture-level panel data from Shanghai,Tianjin,Fujian,and Guangdong provinces during 2010-2016,and by using firm-level data and weighting the average value of export product quality of all enterprises in the region,using a multitemporal PSM-DID model,the establishment of the FTZ is used as a quasi-natural experiment to empirically test the impact of the establishment of the FTZ on the export product quality of enterprises.The results show that at the aggregate level,the establishment of the FTZ has a significant contribution to the quality of export products.The robustness of the regression results is demonstrated by observing and comparing the change trends of firms’ export product quality before and after the establishment of the FTZ,while further exploring the impact of the establishment of the FTZ on export product quality through a series of robustness tests such as placebo test and shortened time window.The mechanism analysis shows that the FTZ mainly promotes the improvement of the export product quality of enterprises through two ways: enhancing the level of industrial agglomeration and promoting the optimization of business environment.Finally,based on this article,three policy recommendations are finally proposed:first,to formulate industrial innovation policies and strengthen financial risk management;second,to build an open platform to construct a high-quality development model;and third,to introduce innovative talents and give support to enterprises’ R&D.These recommendations have certain policy implications for the establishment of China’s pilot free trade zones and the high-quality development of export trade.