行政区划调整与企业家时间配置:基于撤县设区的视角

Administrative Boundary Adjustment and Entrepreneurs’Time Allocation:Evidence from City-County Merger in China

企业家才能及其优化配置是经济发展的重要动力之一。撤县设区有利于促进市场一体化、优化资源配置效率,然而,鲜有研究关注行政体制改革和城市集聚效应对企业家微观经营管理行为的影响。本文研究撤县设区如何影响企业家的时间配置,并基于民营企业调查数据构造双重差分模型。研究发现:(1)撤县设区后企业家的生产经营活动时间增加,公关招待等非生产性活动减少,改革对整个城市范围存在外溢效应;(2)改革改善营商环境,显著减少了企业的寻租和摊派支出;(3)大城市的改革效应更大,与市中心距离越远的县改区的正向效应越弱,反映出集聚效应的重要性。本文认为符合集聚规律的县改区有助于促进企业家才能向生产经营活动配置。

Entrepreneurs’talents are one of the important driving forces of economic development.The city-county merger is conducive to promoting market integration and optimizing the efficiency of resource allocation,but few studies have focused on the impact of city-county merger and urban agglomeration on entrepreneurs’micro-management behavior.This paper studies the impact of administrative boundary adjustment on entrepreneurs’time allocation.Based on the difference in differences model,we find that city-county merger has significantly increased the time entrepreneurs spend on production activities,and has spillover effect on the entire city.The city-county merger improves the business environment and significantly reduces the rent-seeking and apportioning expenses.The effect is more prominent in large cities,and the farther away from the city center the weaker the positive effect,which reflects the importance of the agglomeration effect.The policy implication of this paper is that:the city-county merger should apply in areas that conform to the law of agglomeration so that it can significantly promote the allocation of entrepreneurial talents to production and business activities.