中文摘要
鉴于互联网带来的近乎自由的信息流动，以及相对于发达国家的工资差异，发展中国家能否从可贸易服务这一不断增长部门的出口机会中受益？本文聚焦软件开发行业，分析了来自5200个地点的268万个软件项目的数据，并估计了一个地点之间交易任务的经济地理模型。结果揭示了限制出口的三个因素：（i）国家内部和国家之间存在显著的生产率差异；（ii）贸易量随距离增加而显著下降；（iii）软件开发者之间的排序模式，暗示着类似人才外流的现象。
• 我们研究发展中国家在可贸易服务中的出口机会。
• 使用覆盖全球5200个地点的275万GitHub用户数据。
• 发现国家内部和国家之间存在较大的生产率差异。
• 记录服务贸易中显著的距离弹性。
• 揭示软件开发者之间类似人才外流的选择性排序。
Abstract
Can developing countries benefit from exporting opportunities in the growing sector of tradable services, given the near free information flow via the internet and wage differentials relative to developed countries? Focusing on the software development industry, we analyse data from 2.68 million software projects across 5200 locations, and estimate an economic geography model in which locations trade tasks. The results reveal three factors limiting exports: (i) significant productivity differences within and between countries; (ii) a notable decline in trade volumes with distance; (iii) sorting patterns among software developers that are suggestive of brain drain. • We study export opportunities in tradable services for developing countries. • Use data on 2.75M GitHub users across 5200 global locations. • Find large productivity differences within and between countries. • Document significant distance elasticities in services trade. • Uncover selective sorting among software developers resembling brain drain.