Abstract: At present, trade digitalization has a new trend in the development of international trade, and its impact on domestic income distribution is increasingly prominent. From the perspective of trade welfare, this study takes“cross-border e-commerce + industrial belt”as an example and utilizes the related panel data of prefecture-level cities to examine the impact of trade digitalization on labor income share and its underlying mechanisms. The research findings indicate that trade digitization can significantly enhance labor income share, with its mechanism involving the mitigation of price“involution”at both the origin and outcome stages of trade, thereby increasing labor income share. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that trade digitization has a more pronounced impact on the cities with weak trade foundations and those with a higher proportion of manufacturing. Further analysis reveals that trade digitization can maintain export resilience under adverse trade conditions. Although the“cross-border e-commerce + industrial belt”model generates significant economies of scale, the scope economies brought by the network remain inconspicuous. Against the backdrop of smart manufacturing, trade digitization fosters a complementary effect between data and labor factors, thereby achieving the integration of production intelligence and an increase in labor income share. Therefore, it is necessary to actively formulate a trade digitization strategy, guide cross-border e-commerce to gather in traditional manufacturing bases, promote cross-border e-commerce innovation, enhance the adaptability of labor factors and cross-border data factors, so as to fully leverage the effect of trade digitization on the increase of labor income share.

Key words: trade digitalization, share of labor income, price involution, cross border e-commerce + industrial belt