方言边界、交流障碍与创新绩效

Dialect Boundaries,Communication Barriers and Innovation Performances

语言是信息传递的载体,影响知识溢出效率。本文利用方言边界识别交流障碍,借助县级层面和企业层面的专利申请数据,考察交流障碍对创新的作用机理。进一步,将普通话立法作为减少交流障碍的准实验,构建交流障碍影响创新的动态分析框架。研究表明,方言边界显著抑制创新。在排除偶然因素干扰、替换核心解释变量和被解释变量测度指标以及充分探讨内生性问题的基础上,本文的研究结论仍然成立。通过异质性分析发现,普通话普及程度越高的创新群体,方言边界对其创新的抑制效应越小;对语言交流依赖越大的创新活动,方言边界对其创新的抑制效应越大。动态分析表明,随着创新主体与方言边界之间地理距离的增大,方言引致的交流障碍对创新的抑制效应递减;通过推广普通话减少交流障碍,能够显著提升创新绩效。本文的研究结论从语言环境视角为政府优化创新生态提供理论支撑和科学建议。

Language is the carrier of information,which affects knowledge spillover.Dia-lect boundaries are used to identify communication barriers in this paper.Using the patent data,we research how dialect boundaries affect innovation.Furthermore,Mandarin legislation is regarded as a natural experiment to construct a dynamic framework to analyze the impact of communication barriers on innovation.We find that:Dialect boundaries significantly inhibit innovation.Robustness check and endogenous discussion prove that the conclusion is robust.The heterogeneity analysis shows that the inhibition effect on innovation caused by dialect is different for different innovation groups and activities. The dynamic analysis shows that with the increase of geographical distance between enterprises and dialect boundaries,the inhibition effect on innovation decreases. Besides that,the promotion of Mandarin popularization can significantly improve innovation. These conclusions are useful for the government to optimize the innovation environment.