IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/chinae/v30y2022i2p60-83.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Has the Belt and Road Initiative Improved the Quality of Food Imported by Chinese Enterprises?

Author

Listed:
  • Kexuan Zhou
  • Sanjay Kumar
  • Futao Lu
  • Qiaoyun Fang
  • Linhui Yu

Abstract

Using micro‐level data from 2009–2015 and the difference‐in‐difference method, this paper empirically examines the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on the quality of food imported by Chinese enterprises from BRI countries. Our baseline results show that the BRI significantly improved the quality of food imported from these countries. Further investigation reveals that trade patterns, ownership types, import regions, transportation methods, and product quality show significant heterogeneous effects in influencing the quality of imported food. A mechanism analysis indicates that the BRI improves the quality of imported food through three main channels: import trade environment enhancement, competition effect, and consumption upgrading, with the competition effect having the largest impact compared with the other two channels. Our findings suggest that China should not only improve the infrastructure in BRI countries but also use the BRI as an opportunity to enhance the level of cooperation with BRI countries and maintain stability and sustainability in cooperation with them.

Suggested Citation

  • Kexuan Zhou & Sanjay Kumar & Futao Lu & Qiaoyun Fang & Linhui Yu, 2022. "Has the Belt and Road Initiative Improved the Quality of Food Imported by Chinese Enterprises?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(2), pages 60-83, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:30:y:2022:i:2:p:60-83
    DOI: 10.1111/cwe.12410
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12410
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/cwe.12410?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Min Zhu & Chiara Tomasi, 2020. "Firms' imports and quality upgrading: Evidence from Chinese firms," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5), pages 1371-1397, May.
    2. Peter H. Egger & Andrea Lassmann, 2015. "The Causal Impact of Common Native Language on International Trade: Evidence from a Spatial Regression Discontinuity Design," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(584), pages 699-745, May.
    3. Feng, Ling & Li, Zhiyuan & Swenson, Deborah L., 2016. "The connection between imported intermediate inputs and exports: Evidence from Chinese firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 86-101.
    4. Broda, Christian & Greenfield, Joshua & Weinstein, David E., 2017. "From groundnuts to globalization: A structural estimate of trade and growth," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 759-783.
    5. Rosario Crinò & Paolo Epifani, 2012. "Productivity, Quality and Export Behaviour," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(565), pages 1206-1243, December.
    6. Amit Khandelwal, 2010. "The Long and Short (of) Quality Ladders," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(4), pages 1450-1476.
    7. Bogang Jun & Aamena Alshamsi & Jian Gao & César A. Hidalgo, 2020. "Bilateral relatedness: knowledge diffusion and the evolution of bilateral trade," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 247-277, April.
    8. Olper, Alessandro & Curzi, Daniele & Pacca, Lucia, 2014. "Do food standards affect the quality of EU imports?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 233-237.
    9. Lin Sun & Li Tao Ye & Michael R. Reed, 2020. "The impact of income growth on quality structure improvement of imported food: evidence from China's firm-level data," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(4), pages 647-671, August.
    10. David Hummels & Alexandre Skiba, 2004. "Shipping the Good Apples Out? An Empirical Confirmation of the Alchian-Allen Conjecture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1384-1402, December.
    11. A. Auer, Raphael & Chaney, Thomas & Sauré, Philip, 2018. "Quality pricing-to-market," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 87-102.
    12. Richard Baldwin & James Harrigan, 2011. "Zeros, Quality, and Space: Trade Theory and Trade Evidence," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 60-88, May.
    13. Liu, Qing & Qiu, Larry D., 2016. "Intermediate input imports and innovations: Evidence from Chinese firms' patent filings," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 166-183.
    14. Marijke J.D. Bos & Gonzague Vannoorenberghe, 2019. "Imported input varieties and product innovation: Evidence from five developing countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 520-548, May.
    15. Alfred Lameli & Volker Nitsch & Jens Südekum & Nikolaus Wolf, 2015. "Same Same But Different: Dialects and Trade," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 16(3), pages 290-306, August.
    16. Fałkowski, Jan & Curzi, Daniele & Olper, Alessandro, 2016. "Contract (in)completeness, product quality and trade – evidence from the food industry," 2016 Fifth AIEAA Congress, June 16-17, 2016, Bologna, Italy 242321, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    17. Robert C. Feenstra & John Romalis, 2014. "International Prices and Endogenous Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(2), pages 477-527.
    18. Curzi, Daniele & Pacca, Lucia, 2015. "Price, quality and trade costs in the food sector," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 147-158.
    19. Amit K. Khandelwal & Peter K. Schott & Shang-Jin Wei, 2013. "Trade Liberalization and Embedded Institutional Reform: Evidence from Chinese Exporters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2169-2195, October.
    20. Mary Amiti & Jozef Konings, 2007. "Trade Liberalization, Intermediate Inputs, and Productivity: Evidence from Indonesia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1611-1638, December.
    21. Kyle Handley & Nuno Limão, 2018. "Trade and Investment under Policy Uncertainty: Theory and Firm Evidence," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Policy Externalities and International Trade Agreements, chapter 4, pages 89-122, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    22. Andrea Ciani, 2021. "Income inequality and the quality of imports," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(2), pages 375-416, May.
    23. Feng, Ling & Li, Zhiyuan & Swenson, Deborah L., 2017. "Trade policy uncertainty and exports: Evidence from China's WTO accession," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 20-36.
    24. Fiankor, Dela-Dem Doe & Curzi, Daniele & Olper, Alessandro, 2019. "Trade and quality upgrading effects of agrifood standards," 2019 Sixth International Conference, September 23-26, 2019, Abuja, Nigeria 295752, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    25. Hongbing Li & Hongbo Cai & Xuedong Lin & Junyi Gu, 2020. "Quality Imports and Quality Exports: Micro Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(1), pages 106-125, January.
    26. Guifu Chen & Shan Zhan & Shigeyuki Hamori, 2020. "The Influence of Quality and Variety of New Imports on Enterprise Innovation: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-20, November.
    27. Miaojie Yu, 2015. "Processing Trade, Tariff Reductions and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Firms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(585), pages 943-988, June.
    28. Cumming, Douglas & Ge, Ying & Lai, Huiwen, 2020. "Trust and quality uncertainty in global value chains," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 57.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wenshou Yan & Yan Cai & Xuan Guo, 2023. "How can trade partners be chosen when facing food scandals? China's milk scandal as a natural experiment," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(4), pages 603-635, October.
    2. Xuejun Wang & Rongrong Cui & Xi Tian & Jiarong Qian, 2023. "The Belt and Road initiative and food consumption in countries along the route," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(S1), pages 1624-1646, December.
    3. agarwal, shekhar & Gordon, Anna, 2022. "Complexities for the Indian Economy of China's Growing Technological Competence," OSF Preprints fk3r7, Center for Open Science.
    4. Wang, Hui & Si, Ieongcheng & Chen, Zhihua, 2024. "Does the Belt and Road Initiative promote China and the countries along the route to reconstruct the global value chain? Evidence from value-added trade," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 63-83.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wenshou Yan & Yan Cai & Xuan Guo, 2023. "How can trade partners be chosen when facing food scandals? China's milk scandal as a natural experiment," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(4), pages 603-635, October.
    2. Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Mukunoki, Hiroshi & Yang, Chih-hai, 2020. "Liberalization for services FDI and export quality: Evidence from China," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    3. Andrea Ciani, 2021. "Income inequality and the quality of imports," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(2), pages 375-416, May.
    4. Chen, Natalie & Juvenal, Luciana, 2016. "Quality, trade, and exchange rate pass-through," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 61-80.
    5. Fan, Haichao & Li, Yao Amber & Yeaple, Stephen R., 2018. "On the relationship between quality and productivity: Evidence from China's accession to the WTO," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 28-49.
    6. Curzi, Daniele & Pacca, Lucia, 2015. "Price, quality and trade costs in the food sector," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 147-158.
    7. Colantone, Italo & Crinò, Rosario, 2014. "New imported inputs, new domestic products," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 147-165.
    8. Saito, Hisamitsu, 2021. "Foreign direct investment and quality upgrading in Indonesian manufacturing," MPRA Paper 106770, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Zou, Zongsen & Zhang, Yu & Wang, Meng & Wang, Xiuling, 2022. "Do export quality and destination income matter for exchange rate pass-through? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    10. Freitag, Andreas & Lein, Sarah M., 2023. "Endogenous product adjustment and exchange rate pass-through," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    11. Amiti, Mary & Dai, Mi & Feenstra, Robert & Romalis, John, 2017. "How Did China's WTO Entry Benefit U.S. Consumers?," CEPR Discussion Papers 12076, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Dela-Dem Doe, 2023. "Distance to destination and export price variation within agri-food firms," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 50(2), pages 563-590.
    13. Amiti, Mary & Dai, Mi & Feenstra, Robert C. & Romalis, John, 2020. "How did China's WTO entry affect U.S. prices?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    14. Latzer, Hélène & Mayneris, Florian, 2021. "Average income, income inequality and export unit values," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 625-646.
    15. Ana P. Fernandes & Heiwai Tang, 2020. "Fast Fashion: Theory and Evidence from Portuguese Textile and Clothing Firms," CESifo Working Paper Series 8125, CESifo.
    16. Chen, Natalie & Juvenal, Luciana, 2022. "Markups, quality, and trade costs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    17. Charlotte Emlinger & Viola Lamani, 2020. "International trade, quality sorting and trade costs: the case of Cognac," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(3), pages 579-609, August.
    18. Chen, Natalie & Juvenal, Luciana, 2018. "Quality and the Great Trade Collapse," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 59-76.
    19. Shuai Chen & Faqin Lin & Xi Yao & Peng Zhang, 2020. "WTO accession, trade expansion, and air pollution: Evidence from China’s county‐level panel data," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1020-1045, September.
    20. Imbruno, Michele, 2019. "Importing under trade policy uncertainty: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 806-826.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:30:y:2022:i:2:p:60-83. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwepacn.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.