Table of Content

16 April 2024, Volume 44 Issue 4

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Accelerating the Cultivation of the New Quality Productive Forces to Advance Highquality Development

LIU Wei

2024, 44(4):  1-11. 

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In the context of the rapid development of digitization and informationization and the deepening of reform and opening up，the cultivation and development of the new quality productive forces have become the key to achieving highquality economic development and promoting the transformation of economic development mode As a newly emerged category of political economy，we first need to clarify some basic questions about the new quality productive forces These questions mainly include：what are the new quality productive forces? What are their prominent characteristics? Why should we accelerate the cultivation and development of the new quality productive forces? What is the historical urgency and objective necessity of developing the new quality productive forces as Chinas modernization enters a new journey? How can we effectively develop the new quality productive forces? What objective laws of economic and social development should be followed in developing the new quality productive forces?
Productive forces refer to the ability of humans to transform nature based on understanding it，which is the production capacity of workers to create wealth by using means of production to act on objective nature through labor Based on an accurate understanding of productive forces，this article further points out that the new quality productive forces belong to the category of productive forces and are the contemporary manifestation of the development of productive forces，reflecting a qualitative leap in humans ability to understand and transform nature
Furthermore，starting from the definition and basic characteristics of the new quality productive forces，this article delves into the digital and green era characteristics presented in their development process It also explains the historical urgency and objective necessity of developing the new quality productive forces from four aspects：the objective requirements of building a modern economic system，the economic and social development requirements for achieving the goal of Chinesestyle modernization，the requirements of adapting to changes in constraints of Chinesestyle modernization，and the requirements of adapting to the new pattern of international competition
Finally，based on the analysis of the current status and risks and challenges facing Chinas economic and social development，the role of the new quality productive forces in modern economic and social development，and the urgency and necessity of accelerating their development，this article further proposes specific strategies and practical implications for accelerating the development of the new quality productive forces Firstly，it is necessary to follow the laws of scientific and technological innovation required by economic and social development Secondly，it is necessary to follow the laws of structural evolution in economic and social development Thirdly，it is necessary to follow the laws of socialist market economy movement


Data Elements and New Quality Productive Forces：A Perspective from Total Factor Productivity of Enterprises

SHI Dan1, SUN Guanglin1, 2, 3

2024, 44(4):  12-30. 

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The dilemma of being “large but not strong” in manufacturing and the inefficiency in the service industry have become one of the challenges facing China's industrial transformation and upgrading towards highquality development Over the past decade，a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation has injected new vitality into productivity development The innovative activities and knowledge dissemination involved in cuttingedge technologies and emerging industries have transcended the realm of traditional productivity reform Especially when data becomes a factor，serving both as means of production and as objects of labor involved in production and transaction processes，it greatly enriches the types of means of production and labor objects，forming a new productive force characterized by the essence of renewing quality and achieving higher quality This results in the coordination and unity of “quantity and quality” in productivity development
New quality productive forces，characterized by the improvement of total factor productivity （TFP），is centered on innovation，where data elements play a crucial role in enhancing both innovation levels and TFP This study takes the nationallevel big data comprehensive pilot zone as a quasinatural experiment Based on panel data of manufacturing and service listed companies in China from 2009 to 2021，a differenceindifferences model is employed to identify the causal effects and mechanisms of data elements on enterprise TFP The research findings indicate that data elements significantly enhance enterprise TFP，with a greater impact on TFP in the service sector compared to the manufacturing sector This conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness checks Mechanism analysis results suggest that data elements mainly exert an indirect impact on enterprise TFP through digital transformation and innovation Moreover，the moderation effects indicate that industrial integration and data elements jointly play a significant role in improving enterprise TFP The effect is not significantly different between moderatelevel and highlevel industrial integration areas，whereas it is not significant in lowlevel industrial integration areas
In order to fully leverage the role of new quality productive forces in enhancing total factor productivity，based on the findings of our research，we propose the following policy recommendationsFirstly，we should vigorously develop new quality productive forces and accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises Secondly，we should accelerate the empowerment of traditional industries with new quality productive forces，promoting their transformation and upgrading through the widespread application of intelligent technologies and green technologies Thirdly，we should adhere to the leadership of scientific and technological innovation in the development of new quality productive forces


Digital Transformation and Allocation of Decision Rights in Business Groups

YANG RuilongWANG, YeliangWANG, Yizhao, REN Yuzhuo

2024, 44(4):  31-50. 

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The allocation of decision rights holds significant implications for the survival and development of business groups In the digital era，the digital transformation of business groups will profoundly alter the pattern of decision rights allocation This paper proposes a model and empirically examines the impact of digital transformation on decision rights allocation within business groups
We develop a principalagent model to analyze the influence of digital transformation on decision rights within business groups In the model，the parent company acts as the principal，determining the allocation of decisionmaking，while the subsidiary acts as the agent responsible for productive inputs throughout the project Compared to the subsidiary，the parent company exhibits greater risk aversion Therefore，allocating decision rights to the parent company would result in efficient decisions but insufficient incentives for the subsidiary Conversely，allocating decision rights to the subsidiary would provide efficient incentives but may lead to inefficient decisions We posit that the impact of digital transformation on decision rights within business groups is mediated by uncertainty and relative information costs：digital transformation provides business groups with more information and enhances their ability to process and analyze information，thereby reducing uncertainty and prompting them to allocate decision rights to the subsidiary Furthermore，the empowering effect of digital transformation is asymmetric，with a greater empowerment for the subsidiary compared to the parent company，resulting in lower information costs for subsidiary decisionmaking and thus driving business groups to allocate decision rights more to the subsidiary
Based on the model，we use data from Ashare listed companies from 2011 to 2021 to validate its inference The baseline results indicate that digital transformation significantly reduces the concentration of decision rights within business groups，prompting its transfer to subsidiaries After conducting endogeneity and robustness tests using various methods such as instrumental variables，differenceindifferences（DID），and propensity score matching（PSM），the conclusion that “digital transformation reduces the concentration of decision rights within business groups” remains valid Further mechanism analysis indicates that digital transformation promotes the transfer of decision rights to subsidiaries through two channels：by reducing uncertainty faced by business groups and lowering the relative information costs between subsidiaries and the parent company In the heterogeneity analysis，we find that the decentralization effect facilitated by digital transformation is more pronounced in privatelyowned business groups with fewer subsidiaries and lighter business volumes
Compared with existing literature，this paper contributes in the following aspects：Firstly，at the theoretical level，by introducing uncertainty and relative information costs，it discusses the specific mechanism through which digital transformation affects decision rights allocation within business groups，thereby extending the existing research on digital transformation Secondly，at the empirical level，based on data from Chinese Ashare listed companies，it validates the viewpoint that information technology drives the decentralization of decision rights，enriching the relevant research on organizational authority


Targeted Poverty Alleviation，Population Mobility and Regional Economic Gap

QIU Tongwei

2024, 44(4):  51-66. 

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China's targeted poverty alleviation campaign launched in 2013 is the largest poverty alleviation battle in human history By the end of 2020，9899 million rural impoverished people have been lifted out of poverty，832 povertystricken counties have been completely removed from poverty，and 128 thousand povertystricken villages have been lifted out of poverty In addition to eliminating absolute poverty，another important function of poverty alleviation is to alleviate regional development imbalances through industrial support However，poverty alleviation policies may also induce accelerated population outflow，thereby exacerbating regional economic disparities There is lacking relevant research to examine the impact of targeted poverty alleviation on regional economic disparities，and to explore the role of population mobility
What to be tested in this paper are threefold Firstly，we use PSM-DID method to evaluate the impact of targeted poverty alleviation on regional economic disparities Secondly，employing DID method，the impact of targeted poverty alleviation on the mobility of permanent residents in povertystricken counties is identified Thirdly，the instrumental variable method is used to investigate the impact of population mobility on regional economic disparities
The estimated results show that the implementation of targeted poverty alleviation policies does help narrow the regional economic gap，but the effect is relatively limited One of the important reasons for this is that targeted poverty alleviation tends to accelerate the loss of permanent residents in povertystricken counties，while the loss of permanent residents has significantly widened the regional economic gap Further evidence shows that the population loss in povertystricken counties has a stronger stimulating effect on the regional economic gap than that in other regions For poor counties in urban agglomerations or southern regions，targeted poverty alleviation plays a more obvious role in reducing the economic gap between them and other regions For poor counties in urban agglomerations or northern areas，targeted poverty alleviation leads to the loss of more permanent residents
The main contributions of this article are twofold Firstly，the early evaluation of the impact of targeted poverty alleviation on regional economic disparities has reference value for understanding the regional development balance role of this policy Secondly，from the perspective of population mobility，exploring the factor allocation and economic impact induced by precision poverty alleviation can provide experience and theoretical basis for optimizing development strategies in impoverished areas
The main policy implications of this article are threefold Firstly，targeted poverty alleviation is the reconfiguration of social resources in regions and populations The role of this allocation is to ensure the stable improvement of human capital and to improve the regions ability to undertake industries，supply services，and other aspects Only by ensuring the development capabilities of both people and regions can the foundation of social development be firmly maintained Secondly，it must be clarified that povertystricken counties，especially rural areas，are not growth poles for economic development Thirdly，poverty alleviation in povertystricken counties and rural areas is an important measure to address Chinas economic hard landing But it is necessary to scientifically examine the economic development of povertystricken areas，strengthen rational choices in industry selection，and avoid promoting hightech industries that do not match the local development level


Fiscal Target Pressure，Tax Efforts and Enterprise Technological Innovation

YU Yongze1, FENG Dongkun2

2024, 44(4):  67-84. 

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The impact of local fiscal pressures on enterprise technological innovation has consistently been a focal point of scholarly interest This paper collects data from local government reports，specifically focusing on fiscal revenue growth objectives，and uses the disparity between these targets at both the prefectural and provincial levels as a measure of local fiscal stress A greater discrepancy in fiscal targets across provinces and cities highlights the competitive nature of local governments’ fiscal objectives setting process Approaching from a unique perspective of local fiscal target pressures，this study provides a theoretical framework to understand their influence on technological innovation endeavors Through an empirical analysis employing microdata from Ashare companies listed in China，this paper explores the intricate relationship between fiscal strategies and innovation，thereby contributing to the academic discussion on this subject
The study reveals a pronounced negative correlation between the pressure of fiscal targets and the volume of corporate invention patent filings This adverse effect remains robust through various methodological adjustments，including variable substitutions，the exclusion of outliers and specific years，and the accounting for the influence of municipalities directly governed by the central government and subprovincial cities Moreover，this negative correlation sustains its significance in negative binomial regression analyses To address potential concerns of endogeneity，instrumental variable techniques and differenceindifferences methodologies were applied，further affirming the causal link between fiscal pressure and technological innovation within enterprises
Mechanism analysis sheds light on the dual nature of fiscal target pressure：on one side，it encourages an increase in fiscal allocation for science and technology expenditures，potentially nurturing enterprise innovation On the flip side，it escalates local government efforts for higher tax collection，thereby increasing the real tax burden on enterprises and consequently impeding their capacity for innovation Predominantly，the adverse effects of fiscal pressure on enterprise technological innovation eclipse the positive influences Diving deeper，heterogeneity analysis shows that fiscal target pressure notably disrupts the innovation endeavors of firms with strong innovation properties，while its inhibitive impact is milder on firms with lesser innovation capabilities Furthermore，the innovation pursuits within technologyintensive sectors are particularly vulnerable to fiscal target pressure，unlike those in laborintensive and capitalintensive sectors，where its effects are not as substantial An exploration of fiscal surpluses and deficits across regions indicates that the repressive effect of fiscal target pressure on corporate technological innovation is mostly observed in areas grappling with fiscal deficits，with this trend being less pronounced in regions enjoying fiscal surpluses


Key Industrial Policy and the Export Product Mix Adjustment of Chinese Enterprises

LI Zhen1, HAN Lushuang2, ZONG Huijun1

2024, 44(4):  85-104. 

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The complexity，severity and uncertainty of the international environment are on the rise，and the external environment exerts a more adverse impact on Chinas development To optimize structure of foreign trade，it is important to explore the factors affecting the export product mix of multiproduct enterprises Key industrial policies provide impetus for enterprises to adjust the export product mix and optimize the allocation of internal resources This study examines the influence mechanism of key industrial policies on the internal resource allocation of enterprises，explores the moderating effect of market competition，and further verifies the spillover effect of policies This paper helps to clarify the impact of key industrial policies on the adjustment of enterprises' export product mix，and explores effective ways to help export enterprises to be competitive in the international market
Key industrial policies affect the allocation of market factors by means of information transmission，make up for market failures caused by technological innovation externalities，encourage multiproductenterprises to obtain lowercost factor resources in broader channels，alleviate the cost constraints faced by enterprises entering export markets，and increase the capital investment for R&D innovation and product upgrading Industry policies stimulate the internal motivation of enterprises to improve technological innovation and cultivate new competitive advantages In addition，the decisive role of the market and the guiding role of the government work together in resource allocation As one of the incentive mechanisms provided by the market environment，market competition will also influence the effect of key industrial policies on the export product mix of multiproduct enterprises And the paper empirically tests the influences above
The study reveals several findings： Firstly，key industrial policies can promote the concentration of export product and the expansion of export product scope of multiproduct enterprises This conclusion is still valid after a series of tests，such as endogeneity tests，replacing the explanatory variables and the explained variable，and controlling the higherorder fixed effects，which proves the robustness and reliability of the conclusion Secondly，in the test of the influence mechanism，key industrial policies can not only stimulate the technological innovation of enterprises，but also alleviate the internal and external financial constraints on enterprises，so as to prompt multiproduct enterprises to adjust their export product mix Thirdly，this paper divides multiproduct enterprises into different groups according to property rights nature，trade mode and geographical location，explores the impact of key industrial policies on the adjustment of export product mix of different enterprises，and finds heterogeneity in the effects Fourthly，this paper further examines the moderating effect of market competition on the relationship between industry policies and adjustment of export product mix，and finds the more competitive the markets，the stronger the effect of key industrial policies on the export product mix Fifthly，the expansion analysis explores the impact of key industrial policies on nontargeted enterprises，and finds that industrial policies drive those enterprises of the same twodigit code industry to adjust export product mix via the spillover effect
The findings have important implications for formulating and implementing key industrial policies，actively responding to the changes of external demand and pursuing highquality development of foreign trade It is necessary to promote the coordination between key industrial policies and market mechanisms to build a modern industrial system Coping with external shocks and dispersing the rising risks of the external environment，it is important to pay attention to the role of enterprises in adjusting export product mix，which can improve the efficiency of internal resource allocation of enterprises，and pursue export progress while ensuring stability


Macro-prudential Supervision，Credit Structure Optimization and Risk Mitigation Effect

YIN Hong1, LIU Ding2, ZHANG Bo3

2024, 44(4):  105-120. 

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In recent years，the problems in China's financial field have become increasingly obvious，mainly manifested as the imbalance of financial supply structure and the intensification of financial market risks Based on the financial accelerator model embedded with firm heterogeneity and macroprudential policies，this paper conducts signal source identification and numerical simulation，and examines the credit structure optimization effect and financial risk mitigation effect of different macroprudential policies from static and dynamic dimensions respectively
The research findings are as follows：First，macro-prudential monetary policy should focus on capital asset prices on the basis of traditional monetary policy rules，and macroprudential regulatory policy should focus on output gap and credit volume In addition，the effect of welfare loss improvement is most obvious when the two regulatory policy combinations are implemented Second，the intervention of macroprudential policies can effectively weaken the resource mismatch caused by financial supply shocks，and at the same time effectively alleviate the economic contraction caused by financial risk shocks and avoid the accumulation of financial risks Among them，macroprudential regulatory policies can play a better role in countercyclical regulation and financial stability Third，with the adjustment of economic structure，the allocation of financial resources among enterprises and the regulation effect of macroprudential regulatory policies are dynamic changes Under the impact of technology，the expansion effect of stateowned enterprises capital will gradually strengthen with the increase of the proportion of enterprises，which will further increase the squeeze on the financial resources of efficient enterprises The countercyclical regulation effect of regulatory policies will be strengthened with the increase of the proportion of stateowned enterprises，thus correcting the problem of resource misallocation
Compared with the existing studies，this paper introduces the firm heterogeneity into the financial accelerator mechanism and builds a DSGE model that considers the factors such as government implicit guarantee，financial risk impact and macroprudential policies，so as to effectively explore the policy effectiveness of macroprudential policies in optimizing the financial supply structure and explore the optimal macroprudential policies from the perspective of risk impact This study conforms to the policy guidelines of the “dual pillar” regulation framework of monetary policy and macroprudential，and has certain reference significance for improving the financial supervision system and realizing the “precise drip irrigation” of financial resources


Innovation and Top Wealth Inequality

ZOU Xianqiang1, XU Nanhui2

2024, 44(4):  121-136. 

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This paper delves into the complex relationship between innovation and top wealth inequality by constructing a theoretical framework based on the Pareto distribution and employing empirical analysis through a twoway fixed effects model on data from 40 major economies
Theoretical models suggest that innovation can influence top wealth inequality through mechanisms such as changes in the return on capital and the likelihood of incumbent firms being disrupted On one hand，innovation can exacerbate top wealth inequality by increasing the rate of return on capital On the other hand，the disruptive impact of innovation can also challenge incumbent enterprises，thereby narrowing the wealth share at the top
Empirical findings from this study indicate a significant negative relationship between innovation and top wealth inequality，but the impact of innovation on the Gini coefficient of overall wealth and wealthincome ratio is not significant，highlighting the role of innovation in potentially reducing wealth concentration among the top tier This relationship exhibits crosscountry heterogeneity，that is，in developed countries，the role of innovation in hindering the accumulation of wealth to the top groups has weakened Additionally，the paper explores the mechanisms through which innovation may influence top wealth share obtained from the theoretical model，providing insights into the complex interplay between economic growth，technological change，and societal wealth structures
Our conclusion points towards the disruptive effect of innovation as a dominant force in shaping wealth inequality Contrary to concerns that innovation might exacerbate wealth disparities，the findings suggest that innovation can serve as an effective tool for mitigating wealth concentration at the top This has significant implications for policymakers，indicating that except for the traditional tax instruments，fostering competitive markets and encouraging innovation also could be efficient strategies for addressing wealth inequality To be more specific，the government should further improve antimonopoly legislation to fight against market monopoly forces；promote the development of the financial credit market and strive to address the financing difficulties faced by startup enterprises；and also increase spending on education to explore and cultivate more highquality talents Based on the existing work of our paper，future research can further explore the heterogeneity of the negative relationship between innovation and top wealth inequality，and focus on discussing the impact of innovation on the social groups with different wealth levels and their underlying mechanisms


Research on Firms'Price Protection Strategy under Demand Uncertainty

ZHANG Jianhu1DING Jie2

2024, 44(4):  137-152. 

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 The development of the internet has greatly increased the importance of online retail in the economy Unlike traditional brickandmortar stores，online retailers can respond more easily to market demand uncertainties，allowing them to adjust commodity prices swiftly However，when purchasing durable goods，strategic consumers forecast future commodity prices based on market demand fluctuations，enabling them to adjust their purchases accordingly Economist Coase （1972） pointed out that in the durable goods market，consumers strategic waiting behavior can diminish a firms monopoly power，thereby reducing its profit As a result，firms have an incentive to mitigate this adverse effect，with price protection strategies being one of the most commonly used methods
Price protection strategies generally fall into two categories：pricematching protection and historical price protection Pricematching protection relies on competitors prices in the same period，while historical price protection is based on the firms historical prices This paper primarily investigates historical pricing strategies Unlike existing literature，which either neglects market demand uncertainty or considers it only in the first period，this paper focuses on uncertainty in the second period market demand This uncertainty leads to the possibility of future prices being lower than firstperiod price，making historical price protection effective Existing literature on firms responses to strategic consumers mainly focuses on price commitments，deposit increment strategies and displaying product availability to consumers without specifying exact remaining quantities In contrast，this paper examines how a monopoly firm uses historical price protection strategies to address strategic consumers
The paper considers a twoperiod model A monopoly firm producing durable goods sells commodities in two periods：durable goods sold in the first period can be used in the subsequent period，while those sold in the second period can only be used in the current period The firstperiod market demand is deterministic，while the demand for the second period is uncertain When the demand for the second period is low （high），the secondperiod price is lower （higher） than the firstperiod price When the firm adopts a price protection strategy，if the secondperiod price is lower than the firstperiod price，consumers who purchased goods in the first period can receive compensation for the price difference This paper discusses the equilibrium results in scenarios both with and without a price protection strategy and analyzes how the strategy affects prices，quantities，firm profits，consumer surplus and social welfare in both periods
The findings are as follows：（1） Compared to the case without a price protection strategy，the price protection strategy alleviates consumers concerns about future price reductions，attracting more consumers to purchase goods in the first period，thereby increasing firstperiod price and quantity （2） To reduce compensation given to consumers when price protection is applied，the price protection strategy prompts the firm to increase pricing in the second period under lowdemand conditions，resulting in fewer consumers purchasing goods （3） When the firm applies a price protection strategy and all consumers choose to use it，expected profits in the second period decline，but firstperiod profits significantly increase This leads to a rise in overall profits，while consumer surplus and social welfare decrease （4） If only a subset of consumers （sophisticated consumers） opts for the price protection strategy when the firm implements it，numerical analysis suggests that if the probability of low demand in the second period is low，an increase in the proportion of sophisticated consumers consistently boosts the firms profits Conversely，if the probability of low demand is high，the firms profits initially decrease before increasing，while consumer surplus and social welfare may initially increase and then decrease