Analysis of the Correlation between Cross‐Border E‐Commerce and Economic Growth Based on Hierarchical Multilevel Gray Evaluation Model

Cross‐border e‐commerce is a new form of global trade development under the background of “Internet+,” and it is also a new engine driving economic development. Cross‐border e‐commerce is growing rapidly and has broad development prospects. As a pioneering pilot zone for comprehensive cross‐border e‐commerce, it has played a leading role in the development of the country’s cross‐border e‐commerce industry. This paper takes China’s 35 cross‐border e‐commerce comprehensive pilot areas as the research object, selects the annual data of 31 provinces across the country, and conducts an empirical research based on the gray‐related Internet development level and economic growth. It analyzes the influencing factors of cross‐border e‐commerce development, constructs a cross‐border e‐commerce development influencing factor model, and applies gray theory to conduct an empirical analysis of the correlation between cross‐border e‐commerce development influencing factors and cross‐border e‐commerce. The research results show that foreign direct investment has the greatest correlation with the number of websites and webpages; the number of patent applications has the greatest correlation with the number of domains and websites; the total fixed assets have the greatest correlation with the number of Internet users and the number of mobile phones at the end of the year; the total amount of foreign investment enterprises in and out. It has the greatest correlation with the number of URLs and Webpages; GDP has the greatest correlation with the number of Internet users and the number of mobile phones at the end of the year. The Internet infrastructure and popularity have a close relationship with economic growth, and the relationship between foreign investment and patent applications and the level of Internet development is more significant.