Research On The International Competitiveness Of Digital Service Trade And Its Influencing Factors In G20 Countries

The outbreak of the COVID-19 and its global spread have accelerated the digital transformation of traditional international trade.The digital service trade based on crossborder delivery of information and communication networks and digital technologies has gradually become an important engine for the recovery and growth of the world economy.President Xi pointed out that "service trade is an important part of international trade and an important area of international economic and trade cooperation" and emphasized that"actively develop the digital economy and build a digital trade demonstration zone" in China International Service Trade Fair Global Service Trade Summit in 2021.In addition,G20 countries adopted the G20 Ministerial Declaration on the Digital Economy in 2020 to reach an agreement on issues related to cross-border data flow in digital service trade.In this context,a comparative analysis of the international competitiveness of digital service trade between China and other G20 countries,exploring the key factors affecting the international competitiveness of digital service trade,and finding an effective way to improve the international competitiveness of digital service trade have important theoretical and practical significance for China to expand the international discourse of digital service trade,promote the high-quality development of digital service trade and realize the construction of digital China.This paper first combs and expounds the relevant concepts of digital trade and other classic international trade theories such as the Theory of Comparative Advantage,and theoretically analyzes the factors that may affect the international competitiveness of digital service trade based on the theoretical framework of National Competitive Advantage.Secondly,based on the transnational panel data of G20 countries from 2008 to 2020,the import and export scale of digital service trade and its proportion in service trade are statistically analyzed.Thirdly,the international competitiveness level of digital service trade in G20 countries is measured by the International Market Share(IMS)index,the Revealed Comparative Advantage(RCA)index and the Trade Competitiveness(TC)index,and the measurement results are compared and analyzed.Then,build an econometric model to test and analyze the influencing factors of the international competitiveness of digital service trade.On this basis,further test and analyze the influencing factors through the fsQCA method,in order to find the effective path to improve the international competitiveness of digital service trade and its corresponding typical case samples.Finally,according to the conclusions,the paper puts forward policy recommendations that can effectively improve the international competitiveness of China’s digital service trade and promote the high-quality development of China’s digital service trade.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)The volume of digital service trade in G20 countries has been increasing,and its proportion in the service trade has gradually increased,and its development trend is good,which has become the key driving force for the growth of the current service trade.However,there are still realistic problems such as imbalance and large gap in the development of digital service trade between the developed and developing countries;(2)Among the G20 developed countries,the western countries,represented by the EU and the United States,occupy an absolute leading position in the world’s digital service trade and have strong international competitiveness,of which Australia is weak;The digital service trade of G20 developing countries is in a weak position in the international market as a whole,but the international competitiveness of developing countries represented by China and India is constantly improving,and the trend of catching up is obvious;(3)Based on quantitative test,it’s found that:in general,the human capital of the service industry,the level of economic development,outward foreign direct investment,the development of the Internet and the openness of the service trade have a positive impact on the competitiveness of the digital service trade,while foreign direct investment has a negative impact on it.From the perspective of economic development level,the development of the Internet has a certain degree of inhibiting effect on the competitiveness of developing countries’ digital service trade.From the perspective of digital service sectors,the impact of different dimensions of influencing factors on the trade competitiveness of different digital service sectors is different;(4)Based on fsQCA test,it’s found that:the impact of a single factor on the international competitiveness of digital service trade cannot constitute a necessary condition,and the improvement of the international competitiveness of digital service trade is the combination of multiple factors under the leadership of a certain factor.There are three main effective ways to improve the international competitiveness of digital service trade in G20 countries:human capital driven,foreign capital introduction driven,and multifactor co-driven.Among them,the leading factors for improving the international competitiveness of digital service trade in developing countries are not obvious,and an effective way to improve the international competitiveness of their own digital service trade has not yet been formed.Based on the above research conclusions,this paper puts forward the following policy recommendations to improve the international competitiveness of China’s digital service trade:(1)strengthen the training of talents in the digital service sector,and constantly improve the digital literacy of employees;(2)Expand the openness of the digital service sector,adhere to the principle of "bringing in" and encourage "going out";(3)Pay attention to the possible market invasion caused by the opening of the Internet,and focus on protecting the privacy and security of local data;(4)Give full play to China’s export advantages in telecommunications,computer and information service sectors,and promote the development of other digital service sectors "from point to area";(5)Explore the path of digital service trade that is in line with China’s development reality,and establish a path to enhance the international competitiveness of digital service trade with Chinese development characteristics.