| Since the reform and opening up,the rapid development of China’s economy has largely benefited from the demographic dividend brought by the abundant labor supply and the allocation dividend generated by the large-scale urban and rural labor flow.However,with the labor shortage brought about by the demographic transition and the transition of China’s economy from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage,China’s labor-intensive manufacturing industry will face severe challenges,and it is urgent to seek new sources of development through innovation.In recent years,under the guidance of the Innovation-driven Development Strategy,China’s enterprises as the main body of innovation have greatly improved their independent innovation capabilities,but overall they still face the urgent dilemmas that need to be resolved,such as insufficient innovation momentum and outstanding shortcomings in key core technologies.The innovation capability of enterprises lags behind the actual needs of economic development.Under the background of complex and profound changes in the current supply pattern of China’s labor resources and the world economic situation,a systematic study of the impact of labor wage distortion on enterprise innovation will help to reveal the conditions and micro mechanism of enterprise innovation behind the effective transformation of economic momentum,and to clarify the deep-seated reasons behind the impact of labor wage distortion on enterprise innovation.Based on the characteristic facts of labor wage downward distortion at the enterprise level,this paper conducts a systematic theoretical and empirical study on how labor wage distortion affects enterprise innovation.On the basis of reviewing the relevant research on labor wage distortion and enterprise innovation,combined with classic theories and literature,this paper constructs a theoretical mechanism for labor wage distortions affecting enterprise innovation,and puts forward three theoretical transmission mechanisms: distorted revenue,human capital and consumption demand.Based on the data of Annual Survey of Industrial Enterprises and China Family Panel Studies,this paper uses the production function method and the stochastic frontier analysis method to evaluate quantitatively the wage distortion of micro enterprises and individual labor force.Then empirically tests the impact of wage distortion on the enterprises innovation,and identifies three theoretical transmission mechanisms of wage distortion affecting enterprise innovation.Further,this paper studies about the impact of wage distortion on enterprise innovation in different types of ownership,factor intensive industries.Combined with the research results and China’s actual situation,the paper explores the path and policy direction of improving the market-oriented allocation mechanism of labor factors,encouraging enterprises’ independent innovation,and promoting the high-quality development of China’s economy.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)The development of China’s labor market is relatively lagging,and there is a significant downward distortion of wages.At the micro enterprise level of manufacturing industry,nearly 80% of enterprises have the phenomenon that the average wage level is lower than the marginal output of labor force.Even considering that the data of labor reward of enterprises may be underestimated,after using the macro input-output table to check the micro enterprise labor reward,the average wage distortion of the sample is still as high as 2.72,that is,the marginal output of the labor force of the enterprise reaches 2.72 times the wage level.The measurement results by year show that during the period of 1999-2013(except 2009 and 2010),the labor wage distortion increased first and then decreased,and the wage distortions is relieved after2008.At the level of individual labor,this paper uses the wage possibility boundary as a measure of individual labor productivity.In 2014 and 2016,the average wage distortions of individual labor were 1.75 and 1.48,respectively.The wage distortion of high human capital labor was lower.Marriage had a positive role in easing wage distortions for men,but married women were more difficult to obtain a reward matching labor productivity in the labor market.(2)The labor wage distortion in manufacturing enterprises has an inhibitory effect on the enterprises innovation.The increase of wage lower than the marginal output of labor will significantly reduce the probability of new product production and the increase of new product output and proportion.In order to reduce the estimation bias of the reverse effect of innovation profit on wage distortion,Lewbel(1997)method is selected to design the internal instrumental variable of wage distortion.The inhibition of wage distortion on enterprise innovation is still significant after a series of endogenous and robustness tests.(3)The labor wage distortion mainly affects the enterprises innovation through three mechanisms: distorted revenue,human capital and consumption demand.The three mechanisms explain 94.03% of the inhibition effect of wage distortion on the innovation of enterprises,among which the mechanism of distorted revenue plays a leading role.First,the labor wage distortion leads to the dislocation of price signal and real endowment conditions,hinders the spontaneous promotion effect of factor resource structure`s change on enterprise innovation.At the same time,the low-cost advantage of distorted revenue weakens entrepreneurs’ innovation momentum.The distorted revenue mechanism explains 46.27% of the inhibition effect of wage distortion on enterprise innovation.Second,labor wage distortion weakens the training incentive of enterprises to employees,also causes the problem of high human capital loss.Among the total effects of wage distortion on enterprise innovation,19.40% is achieved through the human capital mechanism.Third,wage distortion reduces the disposable income and consumption expenditure of residents,which results in the overall low demand scale and demand level.The relative contribution of consumption demand mechanism to the innovation inhibition effect of wage distortion is 28.36%.(4)The impact of labor wage distortion on enterprises innovation is significantly different among enterprises of different ownership types and different factor-intensive industries.First,labor wage distortion mainly inhibits the innovation activities of private enterprises,and has no significant impact on the innovation of state-owned enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises.Second,labor wage distortion mainly inhibits the innovation activities of enterprises in labor-intensive and technology-intensive industries,and has no significant impact on capital-intensive industries.(5)This study contains the following policy implications: First,deepen the market-oriented reform of labor factors,give play to the decisive role of the market in labor prices,remove the obstacles to the system and mechanism that hinder the free movement of labor,and eliminate distortion of labor wage.Second,strengthen the status of enterprises as the subject of innovation,promote the reform of state-owned enterprises,form an external environment for equal competition among various types of enterprises,and stimulate the vitality of enterprise innovation.Third,accelerate the accumulation of human capital,improve the structure of human capital,establish an incentive mechanism for innovative talents,and enhance the innovation ability of enterprises.Fourth,improve the income distribution structure,increase tax and fee reductions,increase household disposable income,stimulate consumption potential,and increase enterprises innovation needs. |
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