The Impact of E-commerce Platform Economy on the Real Economy—An Empirical Evidence from China’s National Economic Census

Purpose/Significance In recent years, China’s e-commerce platform economy has shown a trend of rapid development and its impact on the real economy is worth further study. Design/Methodology Based on the economic census data released by Chinese provinces in 2015, an “industry-province” data empirical model is built to discuss the impact of e-commerce platform economy on the real economy from the perspectives of intensive margin and extensive margin.Findings/Conclusions The e-commerce platform economy has seen a significant “double effect”. From the intensive margin perspective, e-commerce platform economy has a restraining effect on offline trade volume. From the extensive margin perspective, however, e-commerce platform economy has significant spillover effect on the number of offline enterprises. This paper provides an empirical evidence for clarifying the relationship between e-commerce platform economy and the real economy in China, and offers policy suggestions for promoting their integrated development.