人力资本投资税收激励与企业创新——来自职工教育经费税前扣除政策的证据

Human Capital Investment Tax Incentives and Enterprise Innovation-Evidence from the Tax Credit Policy of Employee Education Expenditure

创新是促进国家经济发展的动力,而人力资本是创新的基石。本文将2018年企业职工教育经费税前扣除政策视为一项准自然实验,采用双重差分方法系统考察了针对企业人力资本投资的税收激励政策如何影响企业创新。研究发现,职工教育经费税前扣除比例提高促使企业专利产出显著增加,而且在税费负担较高、融资约束较严重以及资本密集度较低的企业中效果更加明显。作用机制检验表明,职工教育经费税前扣除比例提高增加企业专利产出的核心作用机制在于融资约束缓解效应和人力资本升级效应。进一步讨论还发现,职工教育经费税前扣除比例提高显著提升了企业专利产出质量,以及显著改善了企业经营绩效。本文结论表明,加大对企业人才队伍建设的政策扶持力度可以有效推动企业创新、推动转型升级。

Innovation is the driving force to promote national economic development,and human capital is the cornerstone of innovation.Regarding the tax credit policy of employee education expenditure in 2018 as a quasinatural experiment,we use the difference in difference method to systematically investigate how the tax credit policy for enterprise human capital investment affects enterprise innovation.We find that the tax credit policy of employee education expenditure significantly increases enterprise innovation,and the effect is more obvious in enterprises with higher tax burden,more serious financing constraints and lower capital intensity.The mechanism test shows that the core mechanism lies in the easing effect of financing constraints and the upgrading effect of human capital.Furthermore,we also find that the tax credit policy of employee education expenditure significantly improves the quality of enterprise innovation,and significantly improves enterprise operating performance.These conclusions indicate that increasing policy support for the construction of talent teams can effectively promote enterprise innovation.