China Pilot Free Trade Zone Research Articles

Fostering regional innovation efficiency through pilot free trade zones: Evidence from China

The establishment of a pilot free trade zone (PFTZ) in an economy has motivated researchers to examine whether this supply-side policy fosters innovation efficiency and the associated transmission mechanism. The policy aligns with the concepts of agglomeration economics, which considers that clustering industries and firms in specific geographic areas can enhance knowledge exchange, economies of scale, network effects and access to diverse talent pools. Utilising provincial panel data spanning from 2006 to 2019, this study evaluates how China's PFTZs have affected regional innovation efficiency (RIE). The results indicate that PFTZs have the potential to enhance RIE, with the digital economy serving as an effective catalyst for bolstering this positive influence. Consequently, expanding the PFTZs and establishing new ones can prove pivotal in attracting additional foreign investments and stimulating RIE in the post-COVID era.

Do pilot free trade zones promote green innovation efficiency in enterprises? —Evidence from listed companies in China

The establishment of the China Pilot Free Trade Zone complies with the concept of sustainable development, and its construction can not only realize trade liberalization and facilitation but also activate the green innovation momentum of enterprises to help solve China's current dilemma of sustainable development and economic growth. This paper is the first to consider the impact of the establishment of the pilot free trade zone from the perspective of enterprise green innovation efficiency, providing a direct answer to the key question of whether the construction of the pilot free trade zone can truly serve the high-quality development of the economy in the new era, and enriching the theoretical research on the enterprise green innovation efficiency macro-drivers related theoretical research. In addition, this paper uses the super-efficient EBM-GML model to measure the level of green innovation efficiency of enterprises, on the basis of this, it adopts the multi-stage differences-in-differences method used to evaluate the impact of the establishment of the pilot free trade zone on the green innovation efficiency of enterprises. According to the benchmark regression results, the establishment of the pilot free trade zone has promoted the degree of green innovation efficiency of enterprises, and this promotion effect is sustainable. This conclusion was validated by robustness tests. Heterogeneity testing confirms that the pilot free trade zone has a significant influence on the green innovation efficiency of enterprises in heavy pollution industries, non-state-owned enterprises and patent-intensive enterprises. With the enhancement of environmental regulations, the green innovation efficiency of enterprises shows significant improvements. The analysis of the transmission mechanism shows that the pilot free trade zone influences the green innovation efficiency of enterprises primarily through the cost reduction effect, tax incentive effect, and reverse technology spillover effect. This study clarifies whether the policy of the pilot free trade zone can boost the green innovation efficiency of enterprises, and provides useful insight for further implementing the strategy of opening up to the world and promoting high-quality economic growth.

China's pilot free trade zone and green high-quality development: an empirical study from the perspective of green finance.

Achieving the integration of green and economic development has become the key to promoting high-quality economic development in China. In the context of dual-cycle development, a higher level of opening up will be an important prerequisite for achieving this goal. This article uses panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2020 as the research sample and takes the establishment of the Pilot Free Trade Zone (PFTZ) as a quasi-natural experiment. By constructing the Green Dual-Cycle High-Quality Development (GDHD) indicator system, taking green finance as the starting point, industrial structure adjustment and technological innovation ability as the perspective of differentiation. This article uses the difference-in-differences method and the intermediary effect model to explore the impact of PFTZ on regional green high-quality development. The study found that establishing PFTZ has significantly promoted regional green high-quality development, and this effect remains valid under multiple robustness tests. Further research has found that, under the advantages of green finance in PFTZ, regional industrial restructuring and the improvement of green innovation capabilities are the main ways to achieve this goal. This study provides a new development path for China's PFTZ to promote high-quality regional development better.

Achieving carbon neutrality: the effect of China pilot Free Trade Zone policy on green technology innovation.

Evaluating the effect of China pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) policy on green technology innovation is important for achieving China's carbon neutrality targets. Based on the panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions in China from 2009 to 2019, this study investigates the effect of the pilot FTZ policy on green technology innovation by using the difference-in-differences method. The study's findings indicate the following: (1) The pilot FTZ policy promotes the development of green technology innovation, and there is a policy lag in a few pilot regions. (2) The mediation effect analysis shows that the pilot FTZ policy promotes the development of green technology innovation by improving the marketization process and enhancing innovative talent gathering. (3) The heterogeneity analysis shows that the pilot FTZ policy is more effective in promoting green technology innovation when implemented in regions with developed economies or higher levels of human capital. Moreover, the pilot FTZ policy mainly has a significant promoting effect on green utility model patents. Based on these results, policy recommendations are proposed to promote the development of green technology innovation and the achievement of China's carbon neutrality targets.

How to Evaluate the Green and High-Quality Development Path? An FsQCA Approach on the China Pilot Free Trade Zone.

In today’s world, green development has become an important trend, and many countries regard the development of green industry as an important measure to promote economic restructuring. Green development is consistent with sustainable development in ideology. China’s economy is in the stage of high-quality development. As an important foundation for China’s external economic development, the free trade zone can play a good role in promoting its green and high-quality development. Based on the data of 18 free trade zones in China in 2020, this paper explores the green and high-quality development path of the China Pilot Free Trade Zone. Firstly, the green development index is constructed according to the existing research and experience, and then the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method is used to evaluate the green and high-quality development path. The results show that the development of pilot free trade zones is not the result of a single condition but the result of a combination of green policy effectiveness, foreign investment participation, green production growth rate, and other conditions. Combined with the green and high-quality development path, this paper further provides enlightenment for the development of the China Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Environmental Effects of Trade Liberalization–Evidence from China’s Pilot Free Trade Zone

Free trade zone (FTZ) in China has been demonstrating remarkable achievements since its establishment, yet its effects on the environment in the zones cannot be ignored. However, there is still a lack of research on the impact of the quasi-natural experiment in the China pilot FTZ on China’s environment. Based on this, this paper uses panel data from 196 cities in China from 2010 to 2017 and uses the propensity score matching and difference in difference (PSM-DID) model to empirically test the environmental effects of the establishment of the FTZ. The result shows that there is an obvious causal relationship between the establishment of the FTZ and environmental quality. The establishment of the FTZ has exacerbated the environmental pollution problem in the pilot zone. Through a series of robustness tests, it is concluded that the estimated results of the benchmark model are robust. However, after a further study on whether the effect of the FTZ on environment is time varying, it was found that the effects of the FTZ on the environmental pollution in the test zones gradually weakened over time, which means that with the gradual maturity of China’s free trade pilot zone, the positive effect on environmental improvement will gradually highlight.

Construction of China Pilot Free Trade Zone and Search for a New Field of China-Korea Economic Cooperation

Construction of China Pilot Free Trade Zone and Search for a New Field of China-Korea Economic Cooperation

Using Grey Relational Analysis with Entropy to Predict the International Financial Center of China

Abstract The establishment of the China Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has significantly promoted international trade, financial development, and economic growth. Building international financial centers (IFCs) satisfies the demand for FTZs to facilitate financial development, as well as promoting economic growth. Thus, successfully predicting the next IFC in China under the FTZ framework is an important issue. In this study, we applied grey relational analysis combined with entropy method to predict potential IFCs among seven FTZ cities. According to the results, our interesting findings include: 1) the “total stock turnover”, “total value of imports and exports”, and “Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)” are key indicators for determining future IFCs; 2) among seven cities, Shenzhen and Tianjin are highly likely to become the next IFCs, while Shanghai is already an IFC.