Robots and Product Exports: Evidence From Chinese Markets

Abstract

As a rapidly advancing and transformative field, robotics is expected to profoundly reshape the scale, direction, and composition of international trade. However, the extent to which robot adoption affects trade in developing countries remains poorly understood. Our study evaluates the impact of robot adoption on China's product exports, utilizing detailed country-product data from 2009 to 2019. Our findings reveal that increased robot use in production substantially boosts product exports, primarily because of an enhanced comparative advantage in these products. This effect is particularly pronounced in capital-intensive industries and is most evident among resource-based, low-tech, and medium-tech products. Moreover, our research underscores how industry competition amplifies the influence of robot adoption on export growth. Notably, although robot adoption enhances the intensive margin of exports, it reduces the extensive margin. This study significantly expands our understanding of how robot adoption shapes export dynamics in developing economies.