行政审批制度改革对企业利润率的影响——基于准自然实验的研究

The Impact of Administrative Approval Reform on the Profit Margin of Enterprises:Based on"Quasi-Natural Experiment"Verification

基于中国工业企业数据库和行政审批中心数据库,将地级市设立行政审批中心作为准自然实验,使用双重差分方法系统考察行政审批制度改革对企业利润率的影响。研究发现:行政审批中心的设立显著提升了企业的利润率水平,这一结果在不同的方程下均保持稳健;其作用机制主要体现为竞争效应和替代效应:一方面,行政审批制度改革在促进企业进入的同时引入了新的竞争机制,进入威胁下在位企业基于利润最大化的追求会加大技术投入、改进生产效率,从而降低成本和提升利润率;另一方面,市场选择下替代效应加速了低效企业的退出,资源的重新配置使市场结构得以优化。进一步研究发现,行政审批中心的跨部门协调模式显著降低了企业交易成本,且在不同规模企业间对利润率的影响具有异质性。为对内深化改革,进一步激发市场活力,政府应强化部门之间的统筹协调,优化地方政府考核机制,健全市场竞争体系。

Based on the database of China’s industrial firm and administrative approval centers,this paper uses the establishment of administrative approval centers in prefecture-level cities as a quasinatural experiment,and systematically evaluate the impact of the reform of the administrative approval system on corporate profitability using the difference in difference method.The result shows that:the establishment of the administrative approval center has significantly increased the profitability of enterprises,which is robust under different equation forms.Its mechanism is mainly reflected in the competition effect and substitution effect:on the one hand,the administrative approval reform is promoting enterprises to enter.At the same time,a new competition mechanism has been introduced.Under the threat of entry,the incumbent enterprises based on the pursuit of profit maximization will increase technological investment to optimize business strategies and improve production efficiency,which can reduce costs and increase profitability.On the other hand,the substitution effect under the market choice has accelerated the exit of inefficient enterprises,and the reallocation of resources has optimized the market structure.Further analysis found that the cross-sectoral coordination model of the administrative approval center has significantly reduced the transaction costs of enterprises,but the cost burden of different scale enterprises is different,thus the reform of the administrative approval system has a heterogeneous impact on the profitability of enterprises of different scales.In order to deepen internal reforms and further stimulate market vitality,the government should strengthen overall coordination among departments,optimize local government assessment mechanisms,and improve the market competition system.