我国机床行业进口技术溢出效应研究

Research on the Spillover Effects of Imported Technology of China's Machine Tool Industry

进口先进的中间投入品和资本品是发展中国家企业获得技术溢出的重要渠道。本文利用中国机床行业微观层面的数据,考察了进口技术溢出效应的存在性及其影响机制。实证结果显示,机床行业存在进口技术溢出效应,并且只有进口强度达到某一门槛之上时,进口才能促进企业层面生产率的改善;进口对企业层面全要素生产率的影响依赖于企业的生产率水平,进口对那些生产率水平较高、学习和吸收能力较强的企业具有更强的促进作用。在改变生产率测度方法,以及采用一阶段方法论的情况下,研究结论均表现出较强的稳健性。作为扩展性研究,本文进一步将反映企业累积生产经验的"干中学"引入实证模型,结果显示,尽管机床行业的"干中学"显著促进了微观层面企业生产率的提高,但是,通过进口引进国外先进技术对于提高企业生产率的作用更为重要。这意味着,我国机床行业通过参与国际分工所获得的技术进步尚停留在表面,建立在自主技术进步基础上的"干中学"效应还没有得到充分发挥。

With micro-level data of the machine tool industry, this paper studied the impact of technology import on enterprises＇ productivity and confirmed the existence of spillover effects of imported technology and its mechanism. The empirical results present the following findings： TFP of import enterprise are significantly higher than the non-import enterprises ; the higher proportion of import to intermediate inputs and newly-added fixed assets, the higher TFP; the impact of spillover effects of import technology on micro-level productivity presents a U-shape, i.e. import promotes enterprise productivity only when import intensity reaches a certain threshold; the impact of imports on enterprise＇s TFP depends on enterprise＇s productivity level, imports have stronger promotion on enterprises with higher productivity and learning ability, on the contrary, imports may even impede the productivity of enterprise with lower productivity and learning ability. In order to investigate the robustness of above analysis, we adjusted the research methods from two aspects： first, adopts different measurement methods on TFP, second, change the two-phase methodology into one-phase methodology. The robustness tests support the previous conclusion. After introducing ＂learning by doing＂ effect into the analytical framework of the machine tool industry, empiri- cal study showed that during the survey period, despite the significant promotion of ＂learning by doing＂ effect to micro-level productivity, imports of foreign advanced technology has a greater contribution to enterprises＇ productivi- ty. This means that technology progress obtained through participating in international division of labor is still sta- ying on the surface, and the ＂learning by doing＂ effect based on independent technical progress has not been fully realized. Conclusions obtained in this paper have strong policy implications on the complicated equipment manufacturing industry which enjoys similar technical and economic characteristics with the machine tool industry. Among those industries, the international competitiveness of Chinese enterprise are rising sharply, however, the technology lev- el, in particular key components still lags far behind international advanced level. It is effective to raise technology level through the importing of key components, and this has been acknowledged by this paper. However, with the narrowing technology gap, the spillover effects of imported technology will gradually weaken or even turn negative ; the ＂learning by doing＂ effect based on independent technological progress will take the key role in promoting pro- ductivity. Against the backdrop of current international and domestic competition conditions, Chinese enterprises should consider how to deepen the technology progress obtained through international labor division. Only by achieving the technology transformation from importing to innovation, i.e. a shift from spillover effects of imported technology to the ＂learning by doing＂ effect, can enterprises achieve the significant progress from outside to the inside and from product to ability. Enterprises are faced with the task of improving the spillover effects of imported technology and ＂learning by doing＂ effect, while paying special attention to the latter. Both aspects should be based on fostering in- dependent innovation capability. In terms of promoting technological progress, independent innovation should be the inexhaustible source of power of raising technological spillover effects and ＂learning by doing＂ effect. Therefore, in the new era, it is necessary to expand independent innovation to a wider area, to promote independent innovation through institutional building and mechanism fostering, forming inherent capability of continuous innovation and gaining market opportunities.