要素价格扭曲与中国企业出口产品质量

Factor Price Distortion and Export Product Quality of Chinese Enterprises

要素配置效率的提升是推动外贸高质量发展的重要动力。基于制度环境视角,利用2000—2013年中国海关进出口和中国工业企业的微观数据,在企业层面研究了要素价格扭曲对出口产品质量的影响及作用机制。研究发现:第一,要素价格扭曲与企业出口产品质量呈现倒U型关系,即随着要素价格扭曲程度提高,企业出口产品质量提升,当要素价格扭曲达到一定门槛值后,企业出口产品质量下降。第二,要素价格扭曲因企业贸易方式、技术水平和地理位置的差异对企业出口产品质量的影响呈现不同特征。其中,一般贸易企业、高技术企业、东部地区企业,在较高的要素价格扭曲水平下,才会达到拐点位置,从而抑制企业出口产品质量的提升。第三,企业成本加成率和国内中间投入比例是要素价格扭曲影响企业出口产品质量的中介因素。要素价格扭曲增加到一定程度后,其会降低企业成本加成率,提高国内中间投入比例,进而阻碍企业出口产品质量提升。第四,制度环境在要素价格扭曲与企业出口产品质量之间产生调节作用,在制度环境越完善的地区,要素价格扭曲与企业出口产品质量的倒U型曲线更加平缓。

The improvement of factor allocation efficiency is an important driving force for promoting the high-quality development of foreign trade.From the perspective of institutional environment,this paper studies the impact of factor price distortions on the quality of export products and its mechanism at the enterprise level by using the micro-data of import and export of China’s customs and China’s industrial enterprises from 2000 to 2013.The findings show that,firstly,there is an inverted U type relationship between factor price distortion and the quality of enterprises’export products,that is,with the increasing degree of factor price distortion,the quality of enterprises’export products is improving;when the factor price distortion reaches a certain threshold value,the quality of enterprises’export products declines.Secondly,the impact of factor price distortions on the quality of export products will present different characteristics due to the differences in enterprises’trade mode,technological level,and geographical location.Among them,the general trading enterprises,the high-tech enterprises,and the enterprises in the eastern region will only reach the inflection point position under a relatively higher level of factor price distortion,thereby inhibiting the improvement of the quality of enterprises’export products.Thirdly,the cost-plus rate of enterprises and the domestic intermediate input proportion are the two intermediary factors of factor price distortion affecting the quality of enterprises’export products.When factor price distortion increases to a certain extent,it will reduce the cost-plus rate of enterprises and increase the domestic intermediate input proportion,thereby hindering the improvement of the quality of enterprises’export products.Fourthly,the institutional environment will play a moderating role between the factor price distortion and the quality of enterprises’export products;and in the regions with better institutional environment,the inverted U type curve between factor price distortions and the quality of export products will be smoother.