运输成本、生产率差异与我国制造业劳动收入份额

Transport Cost, Productivity Heterogeneity, and Labor-Income Share in China’s Manufacturing Industries

本文构建了一个异质企业、资本内生的空间经济学模型,试图对我国制造业劳动收入份额下降现象进行解释。理论模型结论表明,运输成本的下降与生产率差异的扩大都会降低制造业劳动收入份额;在此基础上,本文利用1999—2014年我国省际面板数据,实证检验证实了本文理论模型的结论,该结论在进一步的稳健性检验中也是成立的。本文认为,市场力量在空间上的作用是导致制造业劳动收入份额下降的重要原因。

In this paper we build a heterogeneous firms and endogenous capital spatial model to explain the decline of labor-income share in China’s manufacturing industries. Theoretically, we find that the decline of transport cost and increase of productivity heterogeneity will both lower the labor-income share. Using the provincial panel data from 1999 to 2014, the empirical results confirm the theoretical predictions, which are also supported by further robust tests. We conclude that spatial market forces contribute to the decline of labor-income share.