自贸区设立的区内企业绩效:制度红利还是政策红利?

The Establishment of Pilot Free Trade Zone on Enterprise Performance in the Zone:Institutional Bonus or Policy Bonus?

自2013年9月中国(上海)自由贸易试验区正式设立以来,中国积极推动自由贸易试验区建设。各自由贸易试验区不断创新举措,推进制度创新。本文以2011—2020年中国A股上市企业数据为样本,基于自由贸易试验区设立的准自然实验,采用多期双重差分法,考察自由贸易试验区设立对区内企业绩效的影响及其作用机制。研究结果表明,自由贸易试验区设立能够显著提升区内企业绩效,且这种提升作用通过降低融资约束和期间费用等交易成本实现,而非通过降低税收负担实现,证实了自由贸易试验区区内企业绩效提升源于制度红利,而非政策红利。异质性分析结果表明,自由贸易试验区设立对非国有企业、重点行业企业和公众关注度高的省份企业绩效提升作用更为显著。本文的研究结论为“十四五”时期建设高标准自由贸易试验区和推进高水平对外开放提供了借鉴与参考。

The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out:“Implement the strategy of upgrading pilot free trade zones and expand the network of high‑standard free trade zones for the whole world”.Since the establishment of China’s first pilot free trade zone in Shanghai in September 2013,a nationwide“free trade zone fever”has rapidly set off.Previous studies have confirmed that the development zone or high‑tech economic zone can rely on the government policy guidance to promote enterprise innovation ability and the productivity increases.As the“test field”of reform and opening up,there is still a lack of research on how the establishment of the free trade zone affects the performance of enterprises in the zone,especially the mechanism of the impact of the establishment of the pilot free trade zone on the performance of enterprises in the zone.Taking the data of China’s A‑share listed companies from 2011 to 2020 as samples,based on the quasi‑natural experiment of the establishment of the free trade zone,this paper adopts the multiperiod difference‑in‑differences method to investigate the impact and function mechanism of the establishment of the free trade zone on the performance of enterprises in the zone.The results confirm that,first,the establishment of the free trade zone can significantly promote the performance of enterprises in the zone,and this promotion effect is achieved by reducing the transaction costs such as financing constraints and period expenses,rather than by reducing the tax burden;second,through heterogeneous analysis,the establishment of the free trade zone is more significant in non‑state‑owned enterprises,key development industries and provinces with high public attention.Compared with the previous literature,this paper expands the following two aspects:first,the establishment of the free trade zone will improve the performance of the enterprises in the zone from the enterprise level,rather than the siphon effect or spillover effect from the macro or medium level;second,based on institutional change theory,proves that the performance improvement of the enterprises in the free trade zone is the decrease in the transaction cost brought by the institutional bonus,rather than the tax benefit brought by the policy bonus of the traditional economic function area.Based on the review and theoretical analysis of institutional innovation achievements in the free trade zone,this paper explores the impact and mechanism of the establishment of the free trade zone on enterprise performance,corrects the misunderstanding about the free trade zone,and provides policy reference for the construction of high‑standard pilot free trade zones and high‑level opening up during the 14th Five‑Year Plan period.