高质量人力资本与中国城市创新能力——来自高校扩招政策的证据

High-Quality Human Capital and China’s Urban Innovation Capacity: Evidences from University Enrollment Expansion Policy

高质量人力资本是实施“科技强国”战略的重要支撑。基于1999年高校扩招这一外生政策构造的准自然实验和双重差分法的研究结果表明,高校扩招政策带来的人力资本扩张有效地提升了城市创新能力,且这一影响随时间的推移显著增强。机制分析表明,人力资本扩张显著提高了劳动者技能水平,而技能劳动进一步诱发了创新要素的集聚效应,提升了城市内部的研发能力,由此共同推动了城市创新水平的提升。异质性分析表明,人力资本扩张对东部城市、创新基础较好、资本品进口增长更快以及市场化程度更高的城市创新提升效应更大。分产业来看,人力资本对城市第二产业创新能力的提升有更大的促进作用。因此,在进一步推进市场化机制改革时,也要注重产业政策的配套,同时加大对欠发达地区的政策倾斜,以推动产业、区域协调发展。

The high-quality human capital is an important support for the implementation of the strategy of“strengthening the country with science and technology”. The results of a quasi-natural experiment based on the exogenous policy construct of the enrollment expansionin high education in1999 and astudy withDID method show that the human capital expansion brought about by the university enrollment expansion policy has effectively increased the innovation capacity of cities, and that this effect has increased significantly over time. A mechanistic analysis shows that the expansion of human capital has significantly increased the skill level of workers, while skilled labor further induces the agglomeration effect of innovation factors and enhances the R&D capacity within cities, thus contributing to the increase of innovation level in cities. A heterogeneity analysis shows that human capital expansion has a greater effect on innovation in the eastern cities and the cities with a better innovation base, faster growth in capital goods imports and a higher degree of marketisation. In addition,by industry, human capital has a greater contribution to the increase in innovation capacity of urban secondary industries. Therefore, when further promoting the reform of market-based mechanisms, it is also important to focus on the supporting industrial policies and at the same time increase the policy support towards the less developed regions, so as to promote the coordinated industrial and regional developments.