Profit Constraint, Ownership Structure and Indigenous Innovation

Under a logical self-consistent theoretical framework, this paper discusses SOEs’ innovation efficiency and innovation conundrum facing Chinese local firms. By creating a theoretical model of endogenous technology level, this paper finds that credit discrimination and soft budget constraint have both a crowding out effect and compensatory effect on corporate innovation. When firms engage in less profitable innovation, the compensatory effect outweighs crowding out effect, and a higher share of SOEs will promote the overall level of innovation. On the contrary, when firms engage in more profitable innovation, the compensatory effect is smaller than crowding out effect, and a higher share of SOEs will diminish overall innovation. In this sense, SOE innovation exhibits a threshold characteristic. Then, this paper carries out an empirical test using the inter-provincial panel data of 1997-2013, which proves our assumption. Finally, this paper arrives at conclusions and policy implications.

在一个逻辑自洽的理论框架下，本文探讨了国有企业的创新效率以及中国本土企业面临的创新难题。通过构建一个内生技术水平的理论模型，本文发现信贷歧视和软预算约束对企业创新既有挤出效应又有补偿效应。当企业从事盈利性较低的创新时，补偿效应大于挤出效应，国有企业占比越高将促进整体创新水平。相反，当企业从事盈利性较高的创新时，补偿效应小于挤出效应，国有企业占比越高将降低整体创新水平。从这个意义上说，国有企业创新呈现出阈值特征。然后，本文利用1997 - 2013年的省际面板数据进行了实证检验，证明了我们的假设。最后，本文得出了结论和政策启示。