Research On The Impact Of Input Digitization On The Cost Of Goods Trade

In the context of the Global Value Chain,products are processed and produced in different countries at different stages.The typical feature of the value chain is the multiple cross-border of intermediate products.The cumulative effect of trade costs leads to the amplification effect of trade costs.The importance of trade costs under the Global Value Chain is becoming increasingly prominent.The rapid development of digital economy provides a new way to further reduce trade costs.The typical characteristics of the Global Value Chain will correspondingly amplify the role of the development of digital economy in reducing trade costs and promoting international division of labor.Especially in the context of the COVID-19 and anti-globalization,reducing trade costs is of great significance to boost the recovery of international trade.This paper measures the input digitization by calculating the direct consumption coefficients.By analyzing the data results,it is found that the input digitization level of technology-intensive manufacturing industry is higher than that of labor-intensive manufacturing industry and capital-intensive manufacturing industry.Using the indirect measurement method proposed by Novy(2013)for reference,this paper calculates the trade costs of 18 manufacturing industries in 43 economies in the WIOD database from 2000 to 2014.Through the analysis of the measured data,it is found that the trade costs of all countries show a downward trend.In addition,the cost of intermediate products is higher than that of final products,and the trade cost of developed countries is lower than that of developing countries.After constructing a fixed-effect model for empirical analysis,we draw the following conclusions:(1)There is a significant negative correlation between input digitization and trade costs of goods.(2)Part of the impact of input digitization on reducing trade costs is achieved by improving total factor productivity.(3)Network coverage plays a moderating role in the impact of input digitization on trade costs.Network coverage will strengthen the negative correlation between input digitization and trade costs.(4)Whether developed or developing countries,increasing input digitization can reduce trade costs,but the effect is more significant in developing countries.(5)Input digitization can reduce the trade cost of intermediate products and final products,but it has a greater impact on final products.