Do new quality productivity and international trade have a positive impact on common prosperity?

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractThis study addresses the critical need to understand how emerging economic drivers can facilitate common prosperity by empirically examining the mechanisms by which new quality productivity and international trade facilitate common prosperity. The aim is to identify and compare the respective roles of these two forces in promoting common prosperity. Using panel data from 11 prefecture-level cities in Zhejiang Province, China, covering the period 2014–2023, the study finds that new quality productivity exerts a significant positive influence on common prosperity in Zhejiang Province (the coefficient of new quality productivity to common prosperity is 0.79), serving as the primary driving force behind this endeavor. International trade also exerts a significant positive impact on common prosperity (the coefficient of international trade to common prosperity is 0.19). Both forces jointly propel common prosperity in Zhejiang Province, with new quality productivity serving as the core engine and international trade providing crucial support. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the effect is stronger in the coastal areas of eastern Zhejiang (regression coefficient is 0.629) than in the inland regions of western Zhejiang (regression coefficient is 0.438). This study provides theoretical foundations and policy references for Zhejiang Province to advance common prosperity by synergistically developing new quality productivity forces and international trade.