政府介入对基础研究发展的影响研究——基于专项政策的准实验分析

The influence of government intervention on the development of basic research: A quasi-experimental analysis based on specialized policy

基础研究专项政策是政府促进基础研究发展的关键制度安排,考察其执行效果与作用机制对进一步优化政策,助推实现高水平科技自立自强具有重要意义。基于2001—2020年30个省份的面板数据,采用多期双重差分法检验了基础研究专项政策对基础研究发展的影响效应与作用机制。发现:(1)专项政策推动了基础研究发展,这一结论在多重稳健性检验后依然成立;(2)专项政策效果存在明显的区域异质性,在东中西部地区呈现出“边际效应递减”规律;(3)专项政策具有明显的质量强弱效应,政策工具是促成质量强弱效应的关键,表现为7类政策工具都显著发挥了作用,其中政策目标工具的作用效应最强;同时,在保证人、财、物投入的情况下,加入开放合作工具的工具组合对基础研究的增益效果更好。研究从中国情景肯定了政府介入科学研究的有效性,丰富了基础研究发展领域的研究;同时,研究为政府优化政策供给和合理使用不同政策工具提供了经验证据,对推动基础研究发展的政策实践具有参考价值。

The specialized policy on basic research is a key institutional arrangement for the government to promote the development of basic research,and it is of great significance to examine its implementation effect and functioning mechanism to further optimize the policy and promote the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement.Based on the panel data of 30 provincial-level regions from 2001 to 2020,the impact effect and mechanism of the basic research special policy on the development of basic research were examined in this paper using the multi-period double-difference method.It was found that:(1)the specialized policy promotes the development of basic research,and this conclusion still holds after multiple robustness tests;(2)there is obvious regional heterogeneity in the effect of the specialized policy,and the law of“diminishing marginal effect”is shown in the east,central and west regions;(3)the specialized policy has clear qualitative strengths and weaknesses,and policy instruments are key to contributing to the qualitative strengths and weaknesses,as evidenced by the fact that all seven types of policy instruments play a significant role,with policy targeting instruments having the strongest effect;at the same time,with guaranteed inputs in terms of human resources,finances and materials,the combination of tools that include the openness to co-operation tool has a better effect on the gain of basic research.The study has affirmed the effectiveness of government intervention in scientific research from the Chinese scenario,which will enrich the research in the field of basic research development;at the same time,the study has provided empirical evidence for the government to optimize the policy supply and rationally use different policy tools,which will be of reference value for the policy practice of promoting the development of basic research.