Impact of Embedded Global Value Chain on Technical Complexity of Industry Export—An Empirical Study Based on China’s Equipment Manufacturing Industry Panel

This study uses the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) to construct an export technical complexity index based on the effective elimination of imported foreign technology. The panel data of China’s equipment manufacturing industry from 2000 to 2014 are used as a sample, and the instrumental variable method is used to test the impact of the embedded global value chain on the technical complexity of industry exports. The impacts of different embedding time periods and different embedding methods on the technical complexity of industry exports are also explored with a view to providing reference recommendations to improve the technical complexity of China’s equipment manufacturing exports. The study finds that embedding a global value chain (GVC) can promote the export technical complexity of the equipment manufacturing industry, and with the improvement of domestic openness and industry research and development (R&D) investment conditions, the promotion effect will become increasingly potent. In addition, the backward and forward embedded global value chain (GVC) can promote the export technical complexity of the industry, and the effect of the promotion of backward embedding is even greater.