Nankai Economic Studies, 2024, Issue 6

Authors: Lv Yue  and Tian Jilin

Abstract: Based on the data of Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2019, we measure firms’  digital innovation level and further use the staggered Difference-in-Difference(DID) method to  test the promotion impact of the BRI on firm digital innovation. Firstly, we find that the digital innovation level of Chinese listed firms showed an overall upward trend from 2009 to 2019. Secondly, the DID results show that the BRI can significantly promote firms digital innovation  level. And this conclusion is still significantly valid after a series of robustness tests, including  placebo test, parallel trend test and Bacon decomposition. In addition, from the perspective of mechanism, the BRI mainly improves the firms’ digital innovation through three channels, easing the financing constraints, promoting cooperative innovation and strengthening the digital  infrastructure construction. Finally, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the BRI plays a more significant role in promoting digital innovation for firms in emerging advantageous industries, in  the central and western regions, and for non-state-owned firms.  

Keywords: The Belt and Road Initiative; Digital Innovation; Digital Infrastructure Contruction; Collaborative Innovation