投入数字化、离岸外包与企业技能溢价

Input Digitalization, Offshoring and Enterprises’ Skill Premium

数字经济已经成为实现可持续发展的新动能和新引擎,然而数字化变革也会对不同技能的劳动力群体产生不同的收入分配效应,导致收入不平等问题。本文将中国视为发包国,扩展了已有文献中的任务模型,将数字化与离岸外包纳入任务模型框架之中,基于数字化与外包的关系探讨两者对技能溢价的影响。实证检验的结果表明:投入数字化显著提升了企业的技能溢价水平,并且投入数字化主要通过降低企业的离岸外包程度提升技能溢价。此外,本文还发现投入数字化对技能溢价的提升作用也会受到企业家精神的负向调节,即随着企业家精神的充分激发,投入数字化对技能溢价的边际提升作用会减小。

The digital economy has become a new driver and engine advancing sustainable development. However, this digital transformation also gives rise to different income distribution effects on labors with different skill levels, resulting in income inequality. Regarding China as an outsourcing country, based on the relationship between digitalization and offshoring, this paper examines their impact on skill premium by incorporating digitalization and offshoring into the task model framework in the existing literature. The empirical test results show that input digitalization significantly raises the level of enterprises’ skill premium, mainly by reducing enterprises’ offshoring. In addition, this paper also finds that entrepreneurship has a negative moderating effect on the increase of skill premium resulted from input digitalization, that is, the positive marginal effect of input digitalization on skill premium diminishes with a higher level of entrepreneurship.