互联网发展对要素配置扭曲的影响

The Impact of Internet Development on Factors Allocation Distortion

伴随着互联网的快速发展,深入考察互联网对资本、劳动力等传统生产要素配置所产生的影响,成为研究中的一项重要议题。本文从要素配置扭曲的视角,深入探究了互联网发展影响要素配置扭曲的内在机理,在此基础上,采用中国地级市面板数据,实证检验了互联网发展对中国地区间要素配置扭曲的影响效应与方向。研究发现,中国互联网的快速发展,显著地改善了资本配置的扭曲,但却加剧了劳动力的配置扭曲;机制检验表明,互联网发展通过影响生产要素的流动以及市场的整合,对要素配置扭曲产生影响。进一步,本文考虑劳动力的异质性,将劳动力区分为高知识劳动力和低知识劳动力两种类型,发现互联网有助于改善高知识劳动力的配置扭曲,但对低知识劳动力的配置却产生不利影响。本文结论为科学评估互联网发展的经济效应,进而充分发挥互联网的要素配置功效,促进要素配置效率的提升提供政策启示。

With the rapid development of the Internet, an in-depth study of the impact of the Internet on the allocation of traditional production factors, such as capital and labor, has become an important topic in research.The open network platform of the Internet helps to integrate scattered factor resources, thereby improving production efficiency.By using the Internet, the two-way exchanges between the supply and demand of factors can be carried out directly, forming a benign interaction between the demand and supply sides.Consequently, transaction costs can be reduced, and the set of factors of market transactions can be broadened further.In addition, through Internet technologies, such as cloud computing and big data, data related to production factors can be collected and analyzed, thus accurate and even more precise information on relevant factors can be obtained, which would help to reduce information asymmetry and realize the integration or reorganization of production factors, such as capital and labor, more effectively.Therefore, to a certain extent, it promotes the intensification of production factors and the improvement of allocation efficiency.From the two dimensions of factor flow and market integration, this paper analyzes the internal mechanism of how the Internet affects the distortion of factors allocation in detail.Based on this, we use the panel data of China’s prefecture-level cities to measure the degree of distortion of factors allocation and empirically examine the impact of Internet development on the distortion of factors allocation among regions in China.Furthermore, the labor force is divided into high-and low-knowledge groups.The heterogeneous impact of Internet development on different labor force groups is investigated.By doing so, it not only further expands the scope of research on the relationship between the Internet and factors allocation from the perspective of distortion of factors of market allocation but also has critical reference value for relevant government departments to formulate Internet development policies scientifically and lift the efficiency of factor allocation further.This paper reveals that the development of the Internet in China has significantly improved the distortion of capital factors allocation, but it may not be well matched with the advancement of the Internet due to the generally relatively low education level of the labor force in China.Consequently, the distortion of the allocation of labor factors can be aggravated.Moreover, the impact that the Internet exerts on factors allocation in China has significant regional heterogeneity.The temporal heterogeneity test points out that the impact of Internet development on labor allocation distortion does not demonstrate signs of significant improvement over time.Moreover, the mechanism test reveals that the development of the Internet is conducive to capital flow and the integration of the capital market, thereby improving the distortion of capital allocation.Regarding the distortion of labor allocation, the Internet fails to improve it via the factors flow and market integration mechanisms due to labor heterogeneity.After dividing the labor force into the two groups mentioned above for the heterogeneity test, it is found that the development of the Internet helps to improve the allocation efficiency of the high-knowledge labor group, whereas it exacerbates the configuration distortion of labor in the other group.The conclusions of this paper provide policy implications for relevant departments to evaluate the economic effects of the Internet in a scientific way to give full play to the Internet’s factor allocation function and increase the efficiency of factor allocation.