制度型开放会缩小企业间工资差距吗?——基于自由贸易试验区的准实验

Does Institution-Based Liberalization Reduce the Inter-Firm Wage Gap?——A Quasi-Experiment Based on Pilot Free Trade Zones

通过对接国际高标准经贸规则,实现国为制度创新的制度型开放战略,不仅有利于推动中国与世界经济进一步安全有序融合,同时也会对国内收入分配格局产生重要影响。自由贸易试验区是推进高水平制度型开放的重要抓手,本文将自由贸易试验区建设视为准自然实验,基于2009~2021年中国A股上市公司数据,考察制度型开放对企业间工资差距的影响及其作用机制。研究发现,制度型开放显著降低了企业间工资差距;机制检验表明,通过构建自由贸易试验区对标国际准则,倒逼国内制度优化,其引致的市场竞争效应和缓解企业间融资约束不平等程度是带来企业间工资差距降低的渠道;扩展分析发现,构建自由贸易试验区在降低企业间工资差距的同时,并没有显著增加企业内工资差距,即企业内低工资群体不是企业间工资趋同的主要承担者,这暗示了制度型开放的共同富裕特征。本研究对理解以高水平对外开放促进国内共同富裕建设具有重要理论和现实意义。

Implementing an institutional open strategy through benchmarking international standards for domestic institutional innovation is not only conducive to achieving further secure and orderly integration between China and the global economy but also exerts a significant impact on the domestic income distribution pattern,Free Trade Zones(FTZs)serve as a crucial lever for achieving high-level openness.This paper views the construction of FTZs as a natural experiment.Based on the data of China A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2021,it examines the impact of the opening up,based on rules and related institutions,on inter-enterprise wage disparities and its underlying mechanisms.The study reveals that opening up,based on rules and related institutions,significantly reduces wage disparities among enterprises.Mechanism tests indicate that,by constructing FTZs benchmarking international standards,domestic institutional optimization is achieved.The resulting market competition effect and alleviation of unequal financing constraints among enterprises are potential channels contributing to the reduction of inter-enterprise wage disparities.Extended analysis further discovers that the construction of FTZs not only reduces inter-enterprise wage disparities but also does not significantly increase intra-enterprise wage disparities.This implies that low-wage groups within enterprises are not the primary contributors to the convergence of wages among enterprises,highlighting the inclusive prosperity characteristics of institutional openness.The findings of this paper hold reference significance for advancing the construction of common prospenity through institution-based economic opening in China.