The Impact of Cross-Border E-Commerce Pilot Zone Policy on Urban Export Trade in China

This study estimates the effect of the Cross-Border E-Commerce Pilot Zone (CBECPZ) policy on city-level exports in China. Using panel data for 83 Chinese cities from 2013 to 2024 and a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) design, we find that CBECPZ designation increases city-level exports by approximately 10% to 12%. The estimate remains stable across a variety of robustness checks and after accounting for spatial dependence. The spatial estimates also provide suggestive evidence of competition for mobile resources among designated cities.