Research On The Mechanism And Measurement Of Digital Empowerment Of The "The Belt And Road" Value Chain

Most countries along the "the Belt and Road" are developing countries and emerging economies,which have undertaken a large number of processing trade of low-end products in the process of participating in the global value chain.The problem of "large but not strong"countries along the "the Belt and Road" is more prominent,which seriously restricts the improvement of international competitiveness of developing countries and emerging economies.The emergence of digital elements has become the key to breaking development constraints andbreaking bottlenecks.In the context of the digital economy,digital factors have become emerging production factors.Faced with the low-end locking of the division of labor in the global value chain,digital factors can improve innovation capability,optimize resource allocation,and reduce transaction costs through digital technology empowerment,thus promoting the rise of the "the Belt and Road" value chain.This paper first theoretically analyzes the mechanism and effect of digital empowerment of the "the Belt and Road" value chain.This paper discusses the theoretical mechanism of data elements promoting the value chain climb,and systematically analyzes the logic,mechanism and Mode of action of digital empowerment of the "the Belt and Road" value chain climb;Secondly,the digital empowerment degree of the "the Belt and Road" countries is measured,and the previously constructed digital economic indicators are used as a follow-up control variable.Secondly,the participation degree of the "the Belt and Road" countries in the global value chain is measured by using the forward and backward participation index and division position index of the global value chain constructed by Wang et al.(2017)[1],and the specific characteristics of the participation degree of the "the Belt and Road" countries in the global value chain are obtained.Finally,the fixed effect model and Mesomeric effect model are used to test the climbing mechanism of the digital empowerment "the Belt and Road" value chain,and the time series effect model,structural effect model and threshold effect model are used to empirically test the climbing effect of the digital empowerment "the Belt and Road" value chain.The following conclusions are drawn in this article:(1)The data element mainly drives the global value chain to climb through industrial integration and innovation,as well as value appreciation.Value appreciation is mainly reflected in changes in value creation methods,improvement in value creation efficiency,expansion of value creation carriers,and enhancement of value acquisition capabilities;The basic logic of digital empowerment is linking,mining,optimization,and efficiency enhancement,which are manifested in four aspects:digital production and services,digital driven decision-making,expanding business models,and strengthening innovation capabilities;Its mechanism of action is mainly divided into seven aspects:digital empowerment of network links,cost reduction,improvement of innovation ability,value creation,technological innovation,value chain governance effects,and trade rules.(2)Based on the previous digital economy measurement,this paper uses the input-output table to calculate the full consumption coefficient of each industry to the "medium and high digital industries" as the digital empowerment degree of countries along the "the Belt and Road".Secondly,referring to the global value chain forward and backward participation index and division position index constructed by Wang et al.(2017)[1,2],we measured the global value chain participation and division position index of countries along the "the Belt and Road",and reached the following conclusions:First,there are differences in the digital empowerment of countries along the "the Belt and Road".Taking 2019 as an example,the top three countries are India,Singapore and China;Based on the average level of digital empowerment from 2008 to 2019,the top three countries are India,Singapore,and Malaysia,with China ranking fourth.Second,the measurement results of forward and backward participation in the global value chain and the division of labor status show that the GVC division of labor status of countries along the "the Belt and Road" is in the middle of the global value chain as a whole.From a single country perspective,this sample involves 28 countries along the "the Belt and Road",14 countries in the upstream of the global value chain and 14 countries in the downstream of the global value chain.This shows that the "the Belt and Road"not only has upstream industries as raw materials and intermediate products,but also has downstream industries that use intermediate products of other countries for processing and reproduction.(3)Based on the availability of research data,the importance of digital empowerment of the "the Belt and Road" value chain climbing mechanism and the support of existing literature,this paper takes innovation capability and trade cost as the main objects of empirical research on digital empowerment mechanism.The results show that digital empowerment can effectively promote the rise of the "the Belt and Road" value chain,and enable the rise of the "the Belt and Road" global value chain by promoting innovation capability and reducing trade costs.(4)This paper analyzes the ascending process of the digital empowerment "the Belt and Road" value chain from the time dimension,and finds that the digital empowerment "the Belt and Road" value chain is significantly positive through the regression of the short-term effect,long-term effect and lag effect of digital empowerment;The digital empowerment variables have structural effects.The regression results show that there are differences in the significance level and empowerment degree of the "the Belt and Road"value chain in terms of digital infrastructure,digital market,digital technology and digital governance;Digital empowerment promotes the rise of the "the Belt and Road" value chain through two channels,namely,the improvement of innovation capability and the reduction of trade costs.Therefore,the strength of the effects of these two channels will indirectly affect the strength and direction of the rise of the "the Belt and Road" value chain of digital empowerment.The research finds that there is a threshold effect on the intermediary variable of trade costs.Through theoretical analysis and empirical test of the climbing mechanism and effect of digital empowerment of the "the Belt and Road" value chain,this paper draws research conclusions and enlightenment,which provides a basis for China’s economic development from high-quality to high kinetic development,provides strategic support for the strengthening of China’s digital empowerment and the rising position of the global value chain division of labor,and provides guidance for improving China’s international voice.