Research On The Influence Of Higher Education Fiscal Expenditure On Total Factor Productivity

Economic globalisation and the rapid development of science and technology have kept China’s economy in a growth phase for a long time.With the disappearance of the demographic dividend,the labour-intensive and resource-consuming mode of economic development can no longer adapt to the development of the times,and economic transformation is urgent.In this critical period,talent is of paramount importance.Higher education has been placed at the forefront as the cradle of talent development,and the development of education depends largely on government investment.Therefore,it is of great significance to explore the relationship between fiscal expenditure on higher education and total factor productivity in China.Based on the above background,this paper uses the data of 31 provinces and cities in China from 2001 to 2020 to analyze the impact of higher education fiscal expenditure on total factor productivity from various aspects.The main contents are divided into five points as follows: First,it clarifies the concept of higher education fiscal expenditure and total factor productivity,and constructs the framework of their relationship with the help of basic theories such as public goods,externality and dimensional econometric approach.Secondly,the theoretical analysis of their relationship suggests that fiscal spending on higher education can contribute to total factor productivity growth and act through technical efficiency,while the emphasis on innovation capacity in universities can strengthen the effect of their relationships.At the same time,higher education expenditure can have spatial spillover effects on total factor productivity through talent flow and cross-regional cooperation.Thirdly,the statistical analysis of the scale of China’s financial expenditure on higher education from two levels of national and regional shows that,on the whole,the scale of China’s financial expenditure on higher education is gradually expanding;at the regional level,the scale varies greatly between regions in China.In addition,the total factor productivity of China from 2001 to 2020 is calculated by using the DEA-Malmquist index method.The results shows that China’s total factor productivity shows a trend of "decline-rebound-decline again",and technological progress is the main reason for its growth;at the regional level;At the regional level the growth of TFP in China is uneven between regions.Fourth,the relationship between higher education fiscal expenditure and total factor productivity is empirically analyzed.At first,under the Two-way Fixed Effects Model,the two are in direct proportion,and higher education financial expenditure can achieve the growth of total factor productivity by promoting technical efficiency.After that the influence of the innovation ability of universities on the relationship is also examined,and the result shows that the innovation ability of universities can strengthen the promotion effect of higher education fiscal expenditure.Finally,using the Moran’s Index test,it is found that there is a significant spatial clustering phenomenon of both higher education fiscal expenditure and total factor productivity.And further by constructing the Spatial Durbin Model,the study finds that there is a positive spatial spillover effect of higher education financial expenditure on total factor productivity.Fifthly,according to the research conclusions of this paper,policy recommendations are proposed for China’s higher education financial expenditure and Total factor productivity: optimizing higher education financial expenditure,broadening funding channels,improving university innovation ability and promoting regional exchanges and cooperation.Reasonable allocation of higher education resources can effectively promote high-quality socio-economic development.