“虹吸”还是“扩散”?高等教育投资对创新型人力资本影响的空间效应

Siphon or Diffusion?The Spatial Effect on Innovative Human Capital Brought by Investment in Higher Education

高等教育是创新型人力资本积累的重要途径,投资高等教育、建设一流高校成为地方政府竞争锦标赛的新赛道。基于2009—2019年30个省份的面板数据,实证检验高等教育投资对创新型人力资本影响的空间效应。研究发现,高等教育投资促进了区域创新型人力资本积累,且存在一定的空间效应,其中中央高校投资呈现负向空间溢出,具有“虹吸效应”,地方高校投资呈现正向空间溢出,具有“扩散效应”。分地区看,中央高校投资主要对东部创新型人力资本积累发挥积极作用,没有直接促进中西部创新型人力资本提升,反而由于“虹吸效应”会加剧区域发展差距;地方高校投资促进了中西部创新型人力资本改善,通过“扩散效应”带动周边地区发展,但可能存在“为他人做嫁衣”的人才流失问题。区域一体化战略在这一过程中具有正向调节作用,但无法从根本上改变中央高校分布不均、资源过度集中等问题。

Higher education is an important way to accumulate innovative human capital.Investing in higher education and building first-class universities has become a new track for local government competition.Based on the panel data of 30 provinces during the 2009—2019 period,it was empirically tested that China's investment in higher education had a spatial effect on innovative human capital.It is found that investment in higher education has promoted the accumulation of regional innovative human capital,and there is a certain spatial spillover effect,in which the investment in central universities presents negative spatial spillover and with“siphon effect”,while investment in local universities presents positive spatial spillover and with“diffusion effect”.Regionally speaking,the central universities investment has mainly played a positive role in the eastern region,and has not directly promoted the improvement of innovative human capital in the central and western regions.However,the“siphon effect”of central university investment may aggravate the regional development gap.Investment in local universities has promoted the improvement of innovative human capital in the central and western regions,and driven the development of neighboring regions through the“diffusion effect”,but it has also caused a serious brain drain problem.The regional integration strategy has a positive regulating effect in this process,but it cannot fundamentally change the problems of uneven distribution of central universities and excessive concentration of resources.