The impact of AI and cross-border data regulation on international trade in digital services

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sun, Ruiqi; Trefler, Daniel
• 署名单位: University of Hong Kong; University of Toronto; University of Toronto; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2026.104328
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: market; internet; PRODUCTIVITY; industries; LEVEL

摘要

International trade in digital services, including mobile app trade (e.g., Facebook in Frankfurt, Instagram in Istanbul), is large and rapidly growing. Analysing 2015-2020 data on 28,000 mobile apps, we find that AI increases an app's user base threefold, a massive effect. AI's handmaiden is data, including cross-border flows of personal data. Concerned with privacy and national security, policymakers have responded with thousands of conflicting data regulations, ranging from guaranteeing free trade in data (USMCA) to data export bans. We are the first to show that these regulations matter: AI's massive effect is halved in countries with strict data flow restrictions.