Robots, Productivity, and Firm Exports

Whether robots can lead to a new competitive advantage in international trade has become an urgent problem for firms that export from China. Using matching data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) database and the China Industrial Enterprises Database and China Customs Database for 2011 to 2013, this study examines the impact of robots on firms’ exports and its mechanism. We find that robots significantly promote firms’ exports, mainly owing to an improvement in firms’ productivity. This effect remains robust after using instrumental variables to account for endogenous factors and replacing core explanatory variables. Heterogeneity analysis shows that, first, robots have a more significant effect on the exports of incumbent firms than new entrants. Second, robots play a greater role in promoting exports by foreign enterprises and private enterprises than by state-owned enterprises. Third, robots have a stronger effect on labor-intensive enterprises than on non-labor-intensive enterprises. Our research provides empirical evidence on the positive impact of robots on firm exports and sheds light on how to maintain the competitiveness of manufacturing firms in China