Research on the Impact of the Establishment of Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones on High-Quality Economic Development

跨境电商综合试验区是加快培育外贸新业态新模式，促进经济高质量发展的重要平台。本文从宏观视角出发，构建城市经济高质量发展指标，基于2005~2021年全国276个地级市面板数据，借助双重差分模型，实证检验了跨境电商综合试验区建设对经济高质量发展的影响。研究发现，跨境电商综合试验区建设能够显著促进经济高质量发展，且在经过稳健性检验后结论仍然成立。异质性检验显示，沿海城市的政策效应强于内陆城市。机制检验发现，跨境电商综合试验区建设主要通过加快数字经济发展促进城市经济高质量发展。因此，要持续推进跨境电商综合试验区建设，推动内陆、沿海经济协调发展，也要加快产业数字化转型，提高数字经济水平，实现经济高质量发展。The Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone is a crucial platform for accelerating the cultivation of new forms and models of foreign trade and promoting high-quality economic development. This paper, from a macro perspective, constructs indicators for high-quality urban economic development and empirically examines the impact of the establishment of Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones on high-quality economic development. This is based on panel data from 276 prefecture-level cities across the country from 2005 to 2021, utilizing a difference-in-differences model. The research finds that the establishment of Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones significantly promotes high-quality economic development, and this conclusion remains valid after robustness tests. Heterogeneity tests show that the policy effect is stronger in coastal cities than in inland cities. Mechanism tests reveal that the construction of Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones mainly promotes high-quality urban economic development by accelerating the development of the digital economy. Therefore, it is essential to continue advancing the construction of Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones, promote coordinated economic development between inland and coastal areas, accelerate the digital transformation of industries, enhance the level of the digital economy, and achieve high-quality economic development.