R&D税收激励、知识产权保护与企业的专利产出

R&D Tax Incentives, Intellectual Property Protection and Enterprise Patents Output

文章以中国上市公司微观数据为样本,运用能克服样本自选择性的计量方法估计R&D税收激励的专利效应,并以知识生产函数分析其作用机制。结果表明,与没有获得R&D税收激励的厂商相比,获得R&D税收激励的厂商并不具有更高的专利产出。从作用机制上看,尽管R&D税收激励产生了显著的额外研发支出效应,但该效应并未直接增加企业的专利产出,中国的R&D税收激励面临类似"欧洲悖论"的困境。仅在知识产权保护的调节下,R&D税收激励引致的额外研发支出能间接增加专利产出,知识产权保护缓解了R&D税收激励政策失灵的风险。前述结论通过了稳健性检验。未来,为改善我国R&D税收激励的创新效应,走出"欧洲悖论"困境,需要优化R&D税收激励政策设计和强化知识产权保护的激励功效。

Sporadic data disclosed show that in recent years the scale of China＇s R＆D tax incentives is considerable. As a special form of fiscal expenditure, in terms of the publicity, scarcity and effectiveness of public funds, an important question arises, that is whether lots of R＆D tax incentives have an expected innov- ative output effect. In this regard, we propose two hypotheses to be tested. Firstly, R＆D tax incentives can （cannot） significantly increase firms＇ patents output, which is used to directly estimate the patent effect of R＆D tax incentives. Secondly, R＆D expenditures induced by R＆D tax incentives cannot directly increase in- novation output. However, under the protection of intellectual property rights （IPR）, R＆D expenditures can indirectly increase innovation output. Intellectual property protection （IPP） mitigates the risk of policy failure of R＆D tax incentives. The latter hypothesis is used to analyze the mechanism by which R＆D tax incentives affect patents output. Next, taking the micro-data of China＇s manufacturing listed companies from 2009 to 2013 as a sample, it uses appropriate econometric methods to conduct empirical tests. Direct estimates using propensity score matching （PSM） indicate that no matter the total amount of patents or different types of pat- ents, R＆D tax incentives do not have a significant effect. Using two-step method, it finds that R＆D tax incent- ives can induce enterprises to increase R＆D expenditures, but the induced R＆D expenditures have no signific- ant impact on the total number of patents. The R＆D tax incentives in Chinese context are confronted with the similar dilemma of＂Europe Paradox＂. The reason lies in that the market-oriented industrial R＆D policy can- not compel enterprises to engage in projects with high social returns, and the lack of novelty requirement for technological innovation achievements has hindered the enterprises＇ innovation efforts. But the induced R＆D expenditures can effectively increase patents under the adjustment of IPP, meaning that to some extent IPP al- leviates the risk of policy failure that the R＆D tax incentives lack the direct patent effect. In the case of inven- tion, the induced R＆D expenditures cannot also directly promote patents output, but also indirectly increase the patents output under the adjustment of IPP. For utility model and exterior design, R＆D expenditures have no direct or indirect （under the adjustment of IPP） significant impacts. The foregoing conclusions passed the robustness test. In order to improve the innovation effect of R＆D tax incentives and get out of the dilemma of ＂European Paradox＂, China needs to optimize the policy design of R＆D tax incentives, that is invention with the highest degree of novelty in technology, domestic or international new product development or the propor- tion of new product sales are taken as mandatory requirements for enjoying preferential tax policies; and it also should strengthen the IPP＇s guidance and incentive effects on the formation of technical output by R＆D ex- penditures. Compared with the existing research, this paper has certain marginal contributions in three aspects. Firstly, it uses more reasonable indicator to measure R＆D tax incentives, namely the intensity of tax incent- ives, which is equal to 1 minus the ratio of the average effective tax rate to the statutory tax rate, is expressed as the ratio of tax preference to pre-tax accounting income. This method can objectively and macroscopically measure the R＆D tax incentives enjoyed by Chinese enterprises. Secondly, it adopts more reasonable econo- metric methods. The patent effect of R＆D tax incentives is directly estimated by PSM which can overcome the sample self-selectivity. The mechanism of R＆D tax incentives＇ patent effect is estimated by two-step method. First, PSM is used to estimate the additional R＆D expenditure effect of R＆D tax incentives, and then panel data model is used to estimate the patent output effect of additional R＆D expenditures. Thirdly, apart from technical aspect, it also highlights the impact of institutional aspect on the topic. Empirical studies also show that IPP plays a regulatory role in the innovative output effect of the induced R＆D expenditures.