A Study On The Impact Of Digital Technology On Total Factor Productivity Of China’s Equipment Manufacturing Industry

Under the upsurge of digital technology development,all countries in the world are accelerating the development of digital technology and manufacturing industry and taking it as an important path to rebuild competitive advantages.Enterprises can make use of intelligent production equipment,big data analysis and other digital technologies to reduce production costs and improve market competitiveness,so as to optimize the industrial structure and enhance the position of the global industrial value chain.Equipment manufacturing industry,as a basic industry that provides technical equipment and core components for each manufacturing sector,improves its development level to realize the strategic goal of "manufacturing power".At this point,to fully understand the development level and characteristics of Chinese digital technology and equipment manufacturing industry,deeply study the action mechanism of Chinese digital technology to the total factor productivity of equipment manufacturing industry is very important for the high quality development of Chinese equipment manufacturing industry and even the entire manufacturing industry.By reviewing relevant literature,this study puts forward the following four research questions regarding the mechanism of digital technology on the TFP of equipment manufacturing industry:(1)Can digital technology improve the TFP of equipment manufacturing industry?(2)What path does digital technology take to improve the total factor productivity,technological progress or technical efficiency of the equipment manufacturing industry?(3)Will the innovation environment(marketization level,intellectual property protection)affect the effect of digital technology on the total factor productivity of equipment manufacturing industry,and what is the mechanism?(4)Is there any regional difference in the impact of digital technology on the total factor productivity of equipment manufacturing industry?Aiming at the proposed research question,this study uses the relevant data of 30provinces(municipalities)in China from 2007 to 2019 to measure the development level of the total factor productivity of China’s digital technology and equipment manufacturing industry by entropy method and DEA-Malmquist index method respectively,and makes an in-depth analysis of the measurement results.Finally,based on the fixed effect regression model and threshold effect model,the empirical analysis is carried out,and the following research conclusions are drawn:(1)With technical efficiency as the main driving force,digital technology has significantly improved the total factor productivity of our equipment manufacturing industry.(2)Digital technology has an insignificant positive impact on the technological progress of equipment manufacturing industry.(3)Due to the single threshold effect of marketization level,the effect of digital technology on the total factor productivity of equipment manufacturing industry is non-linear.Only when the marketization level crosses the threshold value can digital technology improve the total factor productivity of equipment manufacturing industry.(4)There is also a single threshold value for the effect of intellectual property protection on the TFP of the equipment manufacturing industry.If intellectual property protection is lower than the threshold value,it will significantly inhibit the effect of digital technology on the TFP of the equipment manufacturing industry,while if intellectual property protection is higher than the threshold value,it will make digital technology have an insignificant effect on the TFP of the equipment manufacturing industry.(5)Digital technology has an obvious promotion effect on the total factor productivity of equipment manufacturing industry in the central and western regions,but has no obvious improvement on the eastern region.In addition,there are regional differences in the development of digital technology and equipment manufacturing industry.The development level of digital technology in eastern China is more advantageous,while the average annual growth rate of total factor productivity of equipment manufacturing industry in central and western China is faster.This study clarified the mechanism of digital technology on the total factor productivity of the equipment manufacturing industry,enriched the relevant theories of digital technology and total factor productivity,and provided empirical experience and theoretical basis for the transformation and upgrading and high-quality development of the equipment manufacturing industry.