Open AccessThe Impact of the Upgrading of High-tech Zones on the Total Factor Productivity of Enterprises: Evidence from Guasi-natural Experiments
Author(s) -
Wenxu Yang,
Jiaru Kang Kang,
Zhiyuan Ge
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
advances in management and applied economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1792-7544
DOI - 10.47260/amae/1217
Subject(s) - productivity , high tech , business , total factor productivity , industrial organization , government (linguistics) , economic interventionism , incentive , economic growth , economics , market economy , geography , political science , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , politics , law
High-tech Zones are widely regarded as an effective mechanism to promoteinnovation and development of industrial clusters and new ventures. As a change inthe external institutional environment, the upgrading of Provincial High-tech Zonespromotes the ‘metabolism’ of enterprises in the High-tech Zones. This paper regardsthe upgrading of Provincial High-tech Zones as an external policy impact,constructs a quasi-natural experiment to evaluate the micro-policy effect ofupgrading the Provincial High-tech Zones to the National High-tech Zones. Basedon the data of enterprises in High-tech zones from 2005 to 2014, this paper usesPropensity Score Matching and Difference-in-Difference methods to analyze theimpact of the upgrading of Provincial High-tech Zones on the total factorproductivity of enterprises and explores the mechanism of action between the twothrough the mediation effect model. The results show that the upgrading ofProvincial High-tech Zones distorted the total factor productivity of enterprises.Besides, compared with state-owned enterprises, the upgrading of Provincial Hightech Zones has a greater impact on the total factor productivity of non-state-ownedenterprises. From the perspective of the intensity of government intervention, thehigher the intensity of local government intervention, the greater the distortioneffect. Further analysis shows that this distortion effect comes from adverseselection and moral hazard caused by information asymmetry between governmentand enterprises. The research results of this paper provide a realistic basis for thedevelopment of enterprises located in the newly upgraded National High-tech Zones.JEL classification numbers: D24 R58.Keywords: Upgrading of Provincial High-Tech Zones,Total Factor Productivity ofEnterprises, Propensity Matching Score (PSM), Difference in Difference Method(DID).