The Impact of Government Support on E-Commerce Development

电子商务有利于我国经济平稳增长，而地方政府是推动电子商务发展的关键动力。文章基于我国2007~2022年省级面板数据，以财政支出份额刻画地方政府支持力度、并构建面板固定效应模型实证探究了政府支持影响电子商务发展的效应与路径。研究发现：(1) 地方政府支持对电子商务发展具有显著的正向作用，该结论在通过多重稳健性检验后依旧成立。(2) 地方政府可以通过提高财政交通运输支出和财政教育支出水平，以改善地区物流条件和提高人力资本水平进而支持电子商务发展。(3) 政府支持对电子商务发展的促进作用存在显著的区域异质性特征，且该影响在中部地区最强。本文建议：地方各级政府应合理控制财政支出规模、优化支出结构，充分发挥政府在市场经济中的引导作用，促进电子商务发展。同时，各地政府要因地制宜，根据地区发展特征及时调整支持策略，推动区域协同发展。E-commerce is conducive to the steady growth of China’s economy, and local government is the key driving force to promote the development of e-commerce. Based on China’s provincial panel data from 2007 to 2022, this paper uses fiscal expenditure share to describe the support of local governments, and constructs a panel fixed effect model to empirically explore the effect and path of government support on the development of e-commerce. The study found that: (1) Local government support has a significant positive effect on the development of e-commerce, and this conclusion is still valid after passing multiple robustness tests. (2) Local governments can improve the regional logistics conditions and improve the level of human capital to support the development of e-commerce by increasing the level of financial transportation expenditure and financial education expenditure. (3) There is a significant regional heterogeneity in the role of government support in promoting the development of e-commerce, and the impact is the strongest in the central region. This paper suggests that local governments at all levels should reasonably control the scale of fiscal expenditure, optimize the expenditure structure, give full play to the guiding role of the government in the market economy, and promote the development of e-commerce. At the same time, local governments should adjust their support strategies in a timely manner according to the characteristics of regional development and promote regional coordinated development.