互联网是否促进了分工:来自中国制造业企业的证据

Does the Internet Promote Division of Labor?Evidences from Chinese Manufacturing Enterprises

本文实证分析了互联网对中国制造业企业分工水平的影响,并验证了其理论机制。研究发现,互联网普及率的提高可以显著促进中国制造业企业分工水平的提升,互联网普及率越高,促进作用越大,这主要是通过降低企业的搜寻成本而非合约成本实现的。进一步分析表明,互联网对企业分工水平的促进作用不会被其他通讯及运输手段所取代;外省互联网普及率提高只能促进联网企业分工水平提升;国有企业分工水平对互联网作用不敏感;互联网仅能增加直接材料类中间投入外购比例,无法增加生产性服务类中间投入外购比例。在考虑内生性问题及其他统计偏误后,上述结论仍然整体稳健。由此,本文推进了对互联网经济效应的理解。

This paper for the first time empirically analyzes the impact of the Internet on the division of labor of Chinese manufacturing enterprises,and verifies its theoretical mechanism.It is found that as the Internet penetration rate has been increased,the division of labor of Chinese manufacturing enterprises is significantly promoted,and the higher the former,the greater the latter.This is mainly achieved by reducing the search costs of enterprises rather than the contract costs.Through further analyses,it shows that the Internet will not be replaced by other means of communication and transportation in promoting the division of labor of enterprises.What's more,the rise of the Internet penetration rate in other provinces can only promote the division of labor of enterprises connected to the Internet.And the division of labor of state-owned enterprises is not sensitive to the role of the Internet.In addition,the Internet can only increase the proportion of outsourcing in intermediate inputs of direct material,while it cannot in intermediate inputs of productive services.After the consideration of endogeneity problems and other statistical errors,the basic conclusions of this paper are still very stable.The paper makes a further understanding of the economic effects of the Internet.