城市行政级别、数字经济与要素市场扭曲

市场失灵和行政性因素都会导致要素市场扭曲，数字经济可以通过弥补市场失灵改善要素市场扭曲，但要素在高行政级别城市的过度集聚会破坏数字经济改善要素市场扭曲的机制。采用2011—2019年274个城市面板数据的实证分析发现：在高行政级别城市中，数字经济发展对要素市场扭曲具有显著的正向影响，该影响主要源自对劳动要素市场扭曲的加剧，且劳动力集聚程度越高加剧效应越强；在低行政级别城市中，数字经济发展对要素市场扭曲具有显著的负向影响，该影响主要源自对资本要素市场扭曲的改善。对于流动性较强和数字经济渗透度较高的资本要素，数字经济的市场扭曲改善效应较大（在低行政级别城市中），而要素过度集聚对数字经济改善市场扭曲机制的破坏较弱（在高行政级别城市中）。因此，应以建设全国统一大市场破除要素流动壁垒，以完善城市行政级别体系促进要素（尤其是劳动力）从高级别城市向低级别城市的自由流动，以推进劳动数字化智能化增强数字经济对劳动要素的渗透度，进而有效改善要素市场扭曲，提高资源配置效率。

City Administrative Level, Digital Economy, and Factor Market Distortion

In recent years, the digital economy based on the new generation of information technology has become the most active field in China. In this context, how cities utilize digital economy development to improve factor market distortions is an important practical issue. However, there is little literature to investigate the impact of the digital economy on factor market distortion from the perspective of the city administrative level, especially the lack of in-depth research on the sources of impact of digital economy development on factor market distortion in cities of different administrative levels. This paper uses data from China City Yearbook, China Labor Statistics Yearbook, China Statistical Yearbook, and National Economic and Social Development Statistical Bulletin of prefecture-level cities. By referring to the calculation method of urban factor market distortion proposed by Jin Laiqun (2018) and Bai Junhong, et al. (2022), capital factor market distortions and labor factor market distortions are calculated for cities. At the same time, the level of urban digital economy development is measured by using the methods of Liu Jun, et al. (2020) and Zhao Tao, et al. (2020) to examine how digital economy development in cities at different administrative levels affects factor market distortions. The empirical study result shows that the influences of digital economy development on factor market distortion are significantly different among cities at different administrative levels. The digital economy developments of high administrative level cities are not conducive to improving factor market distortion, while the digital economy developments of low administrative level cities help to improve factor market distortion. After considering endogeneity, changing digital economy development indicators and factor market distortion indicators, the regression results are still robust. Further tests on the sources of influence show that the development of the digital economy in high administrative level cities is not conducive to improving the distortion of the labor factor market, while that in low administrative level cities is beneficial to improving the distortion of the capital factor market. Moreover, the development of digital economy in high administrative level cities will not help to improve the distortion of the labor factors market because of the excessive concentration of labor factors. Compared with previous literature, the main expansions of this paper are to include the administrative level into the scope of research on factor market distortion, broaden the scope of research on the relationship between the digital economy and factor market distortion from a new perspective, and preliminarily explore the impacts of digital economy development of cities at different administrative levels on factor market distortion and the influence sources. This paper to some extent reveals the inherent logic of heterogeneity of urban administrative levels in the impact of the digital economy on factor market distortion, which helps relevant departments of cities at different administrative levels to formulate more targeted policies and measures on how to use the development of the digital economy to improve factor market distortion, providing new ideas for improving factor market distortion in China during the digital era.