Empirical Research on the Spatial Distribution and Determinants of Regional E-Commerce in China: Evidence from Chinese Provinces

ABSTRACT

We study regional development of e-commerce in China by investigating the size of the e-commerce industry, its development across the different regions in China, and factors that have affected the e-commerce development. The factorial analysis extracts two factors from 21 variables: basic factors and innovation and digitization factors. The results show that basic conditions and the level of innovation and digitization have a significant impact on regional e-commerce, and comprehensive development levels based on these factors show heterogeneity in the concentration and distribution in China from east to west and south to north. Moreover, changes in spatial dependence are mainly due to basic conditions in internet development, the level of marketization, and skilled personnel. We discuss the policy implications of the findings.

KEY WORDS:

• e-commerce
• main factors
• spatial dependence
• spatial effects

JEL:

• O14
• C31

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The National Social Science Fund of China. [18BGL160].