Research On The Impact Of Export Tax Rebate On The Quality Of Export Products:Evidence From China

Export tax rebate is a financial means adopted by the state to encourage the export of its own goods.Previous studies have proved that export tax rebate has an obvious incentive effect on a country’s export trade,and the role of export tax rebate in a country’s international trade is becoming more and more important.Since China joined the WTO in 2001,the scale of China’s international trade has been expanding.The quality of Chinese products once became the weakness of its competitiveness and affected the development of its international market.Although the importance of product quality in international competition is becoming more and more prominent,most of the existing literature focuses on the impact of export tax rebate on the quantity of export products,and few literature focuses on the impact of export tax rebate on the quality of enterprises’ export products.Therefore,this paper attempts to explore whether export tax rebate can promote the growth of export trade quantity and the improvement of export product quality,At the same time,this paper analyzes the channels through which the export tax rebate promotes the improvement of the quality of import and export products.Using the industrial enterprise database,customs import and export database and export tax rebate rate database from 2000 to 2007,this paper studies the impact of export tax rebate on enterprise product quality.The results show that increasing the intensity of export tax rebate significantly promotes the improvement of product quality of export enterprises.After using different methods to calculate the explanatory variables and core explanatory variables,shrinking the tail of the variables used and adding relevant control variables,this paper draws a consistent conclusion.Although the size of the export tax rebate rate is determined by the government,we cannot rule out that some enterprises choose to improve product quality and expand exports in order to obtain the preference of higher export tax rebate rate.Therefore,there may be a reverse causal relationship between the export tax rebate rate of the core explanatory variable and the export product quality of the explained variable enterprises,that is,endogenous problem,In this paper,the instrumental variable and the lag period of export tax rebate rate are introduced to reduce the deviation in identification.The results still verify the core conclusion of this paper.This paper also attempts to study two channels of export tax rebate affecting the quality of export products,namely,the improvement channel of total factor productivity and the improvement channel of human capital level.In addition,in order to explore the impact of export tax rebate on the quality of export products under different conditions,this paper also divides the sample enterprises into five categories: different forms of ownership,different factor intensity,different regions,different technical levels and different financing constraints,and makes an empirical analysis on each sub sample.Finally,this paper makes an empirical analysis of enterprises in different industries and finds that increasing the intensity of export tax rebate has a significant positive impact on the improvement of export product quality of enterprises in six industries,such as textile industry and computer industry.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows: first,the increase of export tax rebate rate significantly promotes the improvement of product quality of export enterprises.For every 1% increase of export tax rebate rate,the quality of export products of enterprises will increase by 0.0508%.Second,the mechanism analysis shows that the improvement of export tax rebate rate can promote the improvement of product quality of export enterprises by improving total factor productivity and human capital level.Third,the increase of export tax rebate rate has a significant role in promoting the quality of export products of Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan and foreign-funded enterprises,but it has little effect on state-owned enterprises and other domestic enterprises;It plays a significant role in promoting the quality of export products of capital intensive enterprises,but not in labor-intensive enterprises;It plays a significant role in promoting the export product quality of enterprises in the eastern region,but not in the central and western regions;It can significantly promote the export product quality of low-tech enterprises and high financing constraint enterprises.At the statistical level of 5%,it can significantly promote the export product quality of medium and high-tech enterprises and low financing constraint enterprises.Finally,the increase of export tax rebate rate has a significant positive impact on the improvement of export product quality of enterprises in six industries:textile industry,computer,communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry,furniture manufacturing industry,special equipment manufacturing industry,culture and education,industrial beauty,sports and entertainment products manufacturing industry,and wood,bamboo,rattan,palm and grass products industry.According to the conclusions of the research,this paper puts forward the following policy suggestions: first,continue to play the role of export tax rebate in promoting the quality of export products,and formulate an export tax rebate policy in line with the pattern of international trade competition.Second,pay attention to the development of non-public economy,and constantly accelerate the reform of state-owned enterprises and improve the product quality of state-owned enterprises.Third,promote the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure and vigorously develop capital intensive and capital technology intensive industries.Fourth,coordinate regional development,constantly narrow the development gap between the eastern and central and western regions,and adhere to the new development concept of coordination and sharing.Finally,continue to play the role of export tax rebate in improving the quality of export products of enterprises in specific industries.