Panel data analysis reveals that improved market access boosts trade quality in China, highlighting key industrial mechanisms.
Abstract This study investigates the influence of market access on the high-quality development of foreign trade, using panel data from 280 Chinese cities from 2014 to 2023. A fixed-effects model is employed to explore the nonlinear relationship, along with the transmission mechanisms of industrial structure upgrading and industrial agglomeration, and the moderating effect of industrial rationalization. The results reveal a significant positive U-shaped relationship: at low levels, market access improvements suppress trade quality, but beyond a critical threshold, the effect turns strongly positive. Mechanism analysis confirms that industrial structure upgrading and industrial agglomeration are key pathways through which market access promotes trade quality. Moreover, in addition, industrial rationalization exerts a moderating effect that reinforces the impact of market access. These findings enrich the understanding of spatial drivers of foreign trade upgrading and highlight the nonlinear dynamics of market access in shaping trade quality.
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Liu et al. (2025) studied this question.
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