Are FDI spillovers regional? Firm-level evidence from China

This paper examines whether spillovers from FDI occur at the national or regional level, using firm-level census data for the Chinese manufacturing industry between 2000 and 2003. We find that FDI provides significant positive spillovers for the productivity of firms in the same industry, but these spillovers are likely to be regional; that is, domestic firms benefit more from the presence of foreign firms in the same sector within the same region. The backward and forward linkage effects of FDI are negative with significant regional disparity. The geographic distribution of FDI also influences spillovers, with an increase in FDI inflow to the top FDI recipient provinces increasing the forward linkage spillovers. Our empirical results also suggest that domestic firms differ significantly in the extent to which they benefit from FDI, though domestic firms with high absorptive capacity are more likely to benefit from FDI.     

Does an R&D tax credit affect R&D expenditure? The Japanese R&D tax credit reform in 2003

To what extent does a tax credit affect firms’ R&D activity? What are the mechanisms? This paper examines the effect of R&D tax credits on firms’ R&D expenditure by exploiting the variation across firms in the changes in the eligible tax credit rate between 2000 and 2003. Estimating the first-difference equation of the linear R&D model by panel GMM, we find the estimated coefficient of an interaction term between the eligible tax credit rate and the debt-to-asset ratio is positive and significant, indicating that the effect of tax credit is significantly larger for firms with relatively large outstanding debts. Conducting counterfactual experiments, we found that the aggregate R&D expenditure in 2003 would have been lower by 3.0–3.4 percent if there had been no tax credit reform in 2003, where 0.3–0.6 percent is attributable to the effect of financial constraint, and that the aggregate R&D expenditure would have been larger by 3.1–3.9 percent if there had been no cap on the amount of tax credits, where 0.3–0.8 percent is attributable to relaxing the financial constraint of firms with outstanding debts.     

Does top management quality promote innovation? Firm-level evidence from China

The human capital in management teams plays an increasingly important role in firms' governance and policies. We construct a comprehensive index of top management quality using a principal component analysis to empirically prove top management quality's positive impacts on corporate innovation. This study finds that higher-quality management teams tend to invest more in research and development projects and apply for more and higher-quality of patents. These results are consistent after conducting a series of robustness checks. We control for potential endogeneity using a firm fixed-effects model, the instrumental variable approach, and the propensity score-matching method. Three main channels are tested through which higher-quality top management teams will lead to higher innovation: higher tolerance for failure, easing of financial constraints, and more hiring of high-quality inventors. Finally, further analyses reveal that the positive effects of top management quality on innovation are more obvious for high-tech, state-owned, and growing enterprises.     

Does importing more inputs raise exports? Firm-level evidence from France

Does an increase in imported inputs raise exports? We provide empirical evidence on the direct and indirect channels via which importing more varieties of intermediate inputs increases export scope: (1) imported inputs may enhance productivity and thereby help the firm to overcome export fixed costs (the indirect productivity channel); (2) low-priced imported inputs may boost expected export revenue (the direct-cost channel); and (3) importing intermediate inputs may reduce export fixed costs by providing the quality/technology required in demanding export markets (the quality/technology channel). We use firm-level data on imports at the product (HS6) level provided by French Customs for the 1996–2005 period, and distinguish the origin of imported inputs (developing vs. developed countries) in order to disentangle the different productivity channels above. Regarding the indirect effect, imported inputs raise productivity, and thereby exports, both through greater complementarity of inputs and technology/quality transfer. Controlling for productivity, imports of intermediate inputs from developed and developing countries also have a direct impact on the number of exported varieties. Both quality/technology and price channels are at play. These findings are robust to specifications that explicitly deal with potential reverse causality between imported inputs and export scope.     

Taxation officers’ grassroots work experience and tax performance: Evidence from China

This paper examines the effect of grassroots work experience on the working capacities of Chinese officials and how this effect manifests in their measurable performance. Using the Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database (CIED, 1998–2007) and provincial-level local taxation directors’ personal data, we assess the actual tax burden of firms as a measure of directors’ tax levy performance. We analyze these officials’ grassroots work experience data in relation to the level of tax levy in their jurisdictions and find that grassroots work experience significantly improves jurisdictional tax levy performance, reflecting an enhancement effect on directorial capacity associate with grassroots work experience. This relationship remains robust even as we examine alternative hypotheses such as post-employment education, first-time appointment age and promotion incentives. Our analysis reveals that the threat of local tax penalties and the rate of tax offenses are two important mechanisms relating to this measure. Moreover, our findings are particularly significant in local taxation directors with higher first-time employment age and grassroots experience related to economics. Overall, this paper supports the notion that grassroots work experience plays a key role in shaping officials’ working capacity and provides suggestions for optimizing the tax levy system.     

Is R&D cash flow sensitive? Evidence from Chinese industrial firms

We hypothesize that research and development (R&D) is sensitive to cash flow fluctuations due to asymmetric information and agency problems in the credit market. We adopt a variant of the Q model for R&D investment using the value of the firm, physical capital and employment to capture firm fundamentals as proxies for investment opportunities. We add cash flow to this specification, and estimate the augmented model separately for R&D participation and spending decisions using data on Chinese industrial firms for the period 2001–2006. We find that R&D participation and spending are sensitive to cash flow fluctuations, conditional on firm fundamentals. We also find that the cash flow sensitivity of R&D varies across firms depending on ownership.     

How does the development of digital finance affect small business tax compliance? Empirical evidence from China

How will the development of digital finance affect corporate tax compliance? In the digital economic age, this is a crucial issue. Using the 2011–2015 national tax survey database (NTSD) and the Peking University digital finance index, this paper examines the causal relationship between digital finance and small business tax compliance. Our baseline results show that each standard deviation increase in the digital finance index reduces the level of tax noncompliance by 7.5% for small businesses. We exclude the interference of contemporaneous policies, utilize a specification design based on neighboring cities across provincial borders, and employ instrumental variable estimation methods to jointly alleviate concerns about endogeneity. Furthermore, mechanism analysis shows that digital finance impacts small business tax noncompliance by easing corporate financing constraints and capturing tax-related “digital information”. Finally, we analyze the heterogeneous effects of digital finance development. The effects on tax noncompliance are weaker for large firms (placebo group), small businesses supported by the government's industrial policy, and small businesses located in poor credit environment areas.     

Are stronger executive incentives associated with cross-listing? Evidence from China

This study examines whether firms incorporated in mainland China benefit from cross-listing in Hong Kong, China. The Hong Kong Stock Market has more stringent rules regarding corporate governance and a better system of investor protection than the mainland market. Hong Kong companies generally provide strong incentives to executives via equity-based compensation. Have cross-listed companies learned from Hong Kong firms about adopting these strong executive incentives? The evidence from this study suggests that changes in top executive compensation are more sensitive to sales growth in cross-listed firms than they are in mainland firms without cross-listing. However, compared to Hong Kong firms, cross-listed firms are less sensitive to stock returns. Further, this study shows that it is necessary to differentiate between state-owned companies and private companies, as cross-listing may have a greater impact on executive incentives in state-owned companies than it does in private companies.     

Do CO2 emissions impact energy use? An assessment of China evidence from 1953 to 2017

Bidirectional causality between energy use and carbon emissions has widely been explored, but the results in the existing research are still controversial. Focusing on China, we reveal the bidirectional causality between energy use and carbon emissions, and then take carbon emissions as a factor influencing energy use into decomposition analysis by the Logarithmic Mean Index (LMDI) approach. The study span 1953–2017 is divided into two main developing stages based on multiple breakpoint tests, stage one: 1953–2001, before entering World Trade Organization (WTO); and stage two: 2001–2017, after entering WTO. The results show that emission effect and per capita emission effect indeed promoted energy use and even surpassed output effect at the beginning of stage two (2001–2005). The changes in energy use followed those in output effect at stage one, emission effect and per capita emission effect at the beginning of stage two, and energy intensity effect at the latter period of stage two. It indicates that energy efficiency has gradually been becoming a dominate role in energy use changes. The impact of energy mix effect was comparatively small.     

瑞士R&D经费投入分析

R&D经费投入是评价一个国家科技发展水平和科技实力的重要指标,也是衡量一个国家创新能力和水平的重要尺度。文章对瑞士R&D经费投入规模及强度(R&D/GDP)进行了深入的分析研究。     

Does health insurance promote people's consumption? New evidence from China

In order to change the situation that reimbursement rate of the new rural cooperative medical care system (NCMS) was too low to alleviate farmers medical burden, in August 2012, China began to expand the coverage of the NCMS to include the treatment of critical illnesses. Could more effective health insurance promote the consumption of rural residents? We studied the impact of the critical illness insurance (CII) on rural household consumption, and find that the CII increases per capita household daily consumption by >15%. But healthcare and medical expenditures have not been affected. Our comparison of outcomes for households with different levels of consumption and income shows the CII mainly promote the consumption of rural affluent family, but no incentive for poor family, resulting in deterioration of consumption inequality of rural households. The finding is robust to various alternative hypotheses and specifications.     

R＆D,Human Capital Investment and Productivity： Firm-level Evidence from China＇s Electronics Industry

Usingfirm-level panel data covering 2005-2007, the present paper examines the effects of R＆D and human capital investment on productivity in China＇s electronics industry. It is found that both R＆D and on-the-job training positively contribute to total factor productivity （TFP）. Firms＇ investment inemployees＇ health insurance andpensions, whichare components of workers＇ compensation, generate a productivity-enhancing effect, supporting the efficiency wage hypothesis. The estimated impact of R＆D on productivity varies among different forms of ownership, and foreign-owncd enterprises experience higher R＆D efficiency than state or private enterprises. After controlling for potential endogenous causality between TFP and R＆D, the above findings remain unchanged We also find that on-the-job training can improve the quality of human capital and is helpful in promoting productivity. Therefore, establishing indigenous technological capability through various technological sources is quite important, and the government should devote further effort to investing in human capital.     

Establishing science parks everywhere? Misallocation in R&D and its determinants of science parks in China

The establishment of science parks is a vital strategy to develop high-tech industries and facilitate innovations in China. The success of a science park depends heavily on its supportive environment, suggesting that it is hard to replicate everywhere, while China has established many science parks across regions in the past decade. This study evaluates the degree of misallocation in research and development (R&D) and its determinants across science parks in China. Based on an unbalanced panel data of 145 science parks for the period 2007–2014, we find that the overall R&D efficiency has decreased sharply since 2011 when China began to initiate many new science parks. The newly constructed science parks exhibit a lower R&D efficiency than their incumbent parks, suggesting a considerable misallocation in R&D resource caused by expanding science parks everywhere. We further investigate the determinants of R&D misallocation and find that park characteristics and environmental characteristics matter. Parks which are larger, older, and having a higher human quality experience a lower R&D misallocation. Parks with closer R&D collaboration with universities or research institutes, particularly with universities, exhibit a lower R&D misallocation.     

What is the role of government trust in a firm's R&D investments? Evidence from SMEs

We examine how government trust shapes the R&D behaviors of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). To study this, we use data collected on 3045 Chinese SMEs to find that for every standard deviation increase in the government trust index, an SME has a 23.9% increase in their R&D investments. Our findings are robust after accounting for endogeneity using an instrumental variable and controlling for the impact of social trust. We further discover that SME owners who are more motivated to conduct innovation will make more R&D investments when they trust the government, driven in part by their willingness to take more risks. Finally, the effect of government trust on R&D investments is less salient when the region has a high marketization level.     

Innovation,learning, and exporting in China: Does R&D or a technology index matter?

This paper undertakes econometric analysis of innovation, learning, and exporting in automobiles and electronics firms in China using a large-scale 2003 dataset to identify the most appropriate innovation proxy. Drawing on recent literature on innovation and learning in developing countries, it tests two alternative proxies: (i) a technology index (TI) to capture a variety of minor activities involved in using imported technologies efficiently; and (ii) the research and development (R&D)-to-sales ratio, which represents formal technological efforts to create new products and processes, often at world frontiers. A higher TI increases the probability of exporting in both industries, while the R&D-to-sales ratio was not significant. Foreign ownership, technical manpower, and the characteristics of the general manager/chief executive officer also matter. The findings suggest that China's remarkable success in the export of automobiles and electronics since initiating an open-door foreign direct investment (FDI) policy in 1978 is linked to technology transfer from multinationals; systematic investments in and upgrading of minor technological activities (like search, engineering, quality management and design); and human capital. As China's per capita income rises over time, however, formal R&D activities are likely to become more important to sustain competitiveness and technological upgrading in automobiles and electronics.     

江苏省R&D人员投入现状分析

文章通过对江苏RD人员投入现状分析,并与北京、上海、广东、浙江、山东五省市进行比较,找出江苏RD人员投入中存在的问题,进而提出江苏RD人员投入应采取的对策。     

老龄化、财政负担与R&D投资

人口老龄化的加重会造成社会保障支出的增加，这是否会导致政府在R&D方面的支出不足？本文基于我国的省际面板数据，运用固定效应面板随机边界模型对此进行检验。研究发现：无论是采用虚拟变量法还是内转换法进行估计，人口老龄化对政府R&D支出约束部分均有显著的影响，这表明地区老龄抚养比的加重使得政府的R&D支出低于最优支出，尽管回归结果显示政府R&D支出效率较高，但依然存在个体老龄化程度不同的效率差异和区位效率差异。     

The effect of value-added tax on leverage: Evidence from China’s value-added tax reform

In this paper, we use China’s value-added tax (VAT) reform in 2007, which was aimed to encourage fixed investment purchasing, as a natural experiment to explore the effect on firm financial leverage. Results show an expansion in firm balance sheet after the reform, manifested by greater liabilities (long-term, short-term and total liability) and asset. Moreover, in terms of the ratio to asset, it’s found that long-term liability rose while the short-term liability dropped, and as a net effect, the total asset-liability ratio declined as the latter effect dominated. To theoretically explain the observed patterns, three mechanisms are highlighted, “income effect”, “maturity-match effect” and “market disciplining effect”, where income effect corresponds to a proportional expansion of balance sheet while the latter two effects alter the composition of firm leverage.     

Does tax deduction relax financing constraints? Evidence from China's value-added tax reform

Financial constraint is a significant obstacle for firm growth, especially in developing countries where credit is scarce. This paper explores the role of tax policy in relaxing firms' financial constraints by exploiting China's value-added tax (VAT) reform that was initiated in 2004 and completed in 2009. We use a quasi-experimental method and Annual Survey of Industrial Firms (ASIF) data from 2000 to 2009 to estimate the VAT reform's policy effects on financial constraints. We show that the VAT reform significantly improves firms' external financing capacity by decreasing borrowing costs and promoting commercial credit. The findings are robust to alternative specifications but show heterogeneity across ownerships, firm sizes, regions, and between export and non-export firms. Our analysis suggests tax deduction is useful to relax firms' financial constraints.