贸易准入与企业创新:基于聚束估计的证据

Trading Access Policy and Firm Innovation:Evidence from Bunching Estimatiorn

企业创新是实现高质量发展的关键,但关于企业出口如何作用于企业创新的经验研究相对有限。本文使用聚束估计方法,基于中国工业企业、中国海关、专利数据及全球知识产权数据的匹配样本,评估了国际贸易权如何影响企业创新活动。研究发现:第一,企业会显著调整其注册资本超过政策门槛,以获得国际贸易权;第二,企业在获得贸易权后,其参与国际贸易比例提升14.6%;第三,从广延边际看,从事自主研发的企业增加了14%;从集约边际看,受政策影响的企业专利数量增加了2.65倍。第四,驱动企业创新质量提升的主要机制是学习效应,即企业通过学习国外先进知识,在不断积累过程中提升创新能力和产出。此外,我们还评估了主要结果的企业和行业异质性分布以及潜在错配问题。本文使用新的估计方法,深入刻画了企业参与国际贸易影响创新的内在机制,为中国步入高质量发展阶段提供了政策启示。

This paper employs a bunching estimation method to assess how the right to participate in international trade influences corporate innovation activities.Drawing on matched samples from the Annual Survey of Industrial Production,the China General Administration of Customs database and the Patent database,the study finds that firms significantly adjust their registered capital beyond the policy threshold to obtain trading rights and thus be able to participate in international trade,resulting in a 14.6%increase in the proportion of firms engaged in international trade.From the extensive margin perspective,there is a 14%increase in the number of firms involved in independent research and development among those engaged in the policy.From the intensive margin perspective,the number of patents for firms participating in the policy increased 2.65 times compared to the control group.The quality of patents for exporting firms also significantly improved due to the continuous accumulation of advanced knowledge from abroad.Learning-by-doing is identified as the primary mechanism through which trade promotes innovation.Finally,the paper concludes that the promotion effect presents a heterogeneous distribution across different types of firms and industries,analysing potential mismatching issues.By employing a novel estimation method,this work provides an in-depth overview of the impact of firm participation in international trade,enriching the existing literature and offering policy implications for China's path towards high-quality development.