Does cross-border e-commerce enhance export resilience? Evidence from Chinese firm-level data

Enhancing export resilience has emerged as a pressing priority in the face of an increasingly complex and volatile international economic and trade environment. Using firm-level export data from China between 2009 and 2016, this paper examines the impact of cross-border e-commerce on firms’ export resilience by employing a panel fixed-effects model and two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation. The results indicate that: (1) Cross-border e-commerce significantly enhances firms’ export resilience, especially for emerging exporters, low-quality exporters and those in cities with better digital infrastructure. (2) Cross-border e-commerce enhances export resilience through broadening the sourcing channels of imported intermediate goods and promoting export product diversification, especially when search and matching costs are higher. (3) Cross-border e-commerce enhances both firms’ risk resistance capacity and export recovery capacity, significantly boosting the degree and speed of recovery. This research provides valuable insights for Chinese exporters seeking to adapt to external shocks and maintain stable export growth.