The impact of the agricultural digital economy on China's agricultural export growth: Examining mechanisms from supply- and demand-side path perspectives

The deep integration of the agricultural digital economy and foreign trade is an important driving force for promoting high–quality economic development. Based on a theoretical analysis of the impact mechanisms of the agricultural digital economy on agricultural exports, this study empirically examines the impact and mechanism of the agricultural digital economy on agricultural exports using Chinese agricultural export data from 2011 to 2016. The relevant findings are threefold. (1) The agricultural digital economy significantly enhances the growth of China's agricultural exports, and the result remains robust after a series of robustness tests. (2) The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the agricultural digital economy has a greater role in promoting exports from quality frontier firms, primary agricultural products and exports to developed countries. (3) The mechanism analysis demonstrates that the agricultural digital economy promotes exports of agricultural products on the supply side most strongly through quality–enhancing and the information cost effects, improving product quality and reducing information expenditure to achieve export growth. On the demand side, domestic demand traction and external–demand creation effects exert a local market effect and stimulate import market demand to promote export growth. [EconLit Citations: F746.12].