An Research On The Impact Of The Upgrading Policy Of Provincial Development Zones On The Total Factor Productivity Of Listed Companies

Since the establishment of the first state-level development zone in Dalian approved by the State Council in 1984,China’s development zone construction has gone through 38 years.The development zone has played a role that cannot be underestimated in the process of regional economic advancement.The development zone not only drives the improvement of the regional economic volume,but also promotes the regional economic quality.However,the repeated construction of some development zones and the lack of innovation capability of enterprises in the development zone cannot be ignored during the implementation of the development zone policy.It is worth discussing how development zones can transform from extensive development to highquality development.In 2009,the state restarted the development zone upgrading policy,and rectified the chaos existing in the development process of the above-mentioned development zones.In the past,most of the literature focused on the impact of development zone establishment policies on regional economic development and micro-enterprise production.The literature on the impact of development zone upgrading policies on regional microeconomics can be further enriched.Hence,this paper takes listed companies as the research object.The article takes the policy of upgrading the provincial development zone restarted in 2009 to the national development zone as the quasi-natural experiment condition.The paper defines the upgrading policy of the development zone and the definition of the total factor productivity of enterprises.And this paper introduces the specific method of judging whether the listed company is in the development zone.Based on the data of 467 listed companies in 60 cities from 2008 to 2019,this paper uses the Timevarying difference in difference method to adopt a panel fixed-effect model and performs benchmark regression at the city level to analyze whether the development zone upgrading policy has positive promoting effect on the listed companies in the development zone.And the spillover effect test is carried out on whether the upgrading policy of the development zone has an impact on the total factor productivity of listed companies outside the zone.In terms of robustness test,the article performs regression by excluding cities with multiple development zones upgraded.And a common trend test and a placebo test are performed to verify the robustness of the article’s conclusions.In addition,this paper conducts heterogeneity analysis from the perspectives of ownership,industry,and region.The research results show that:(1)After the development zone is upgraded,the policy optimization effect of the relaxation of financing constraints,financial subsidies and the simplification of the administrative approval process promotes the improvement of the total factor productivity of listed companies in the development zone.(2)The upgrading policy of the development zone acts on the listed companies outside the upgraded development zone through the spillover effect of industrial concentration and talent flow.(3)Compared with state-owned enterprises,private enterprises benefit more from the upgrading policy of development zones.(4)After the upgrading of the development zone,the total factor productivity of manufacturing companies has increased significantly,while the producer service industry is not significantly affected.(5)The development zone upgrading policy has a significant effect on promoting the total factor productivity of listed companies in the eastern and northeastern regions,while the impact on the central and western regions is not obvious.Based on the above results,this paper puts forward the following suggestions:(1)Local administrative departments should start from various measures such as relaxing credit restrictions,strengthening tax incentives,and simplifying the approval process to encourage the development of advantageous enterprises in the development zone.(2)The management committee of the development zone should mobilize enterprises inside and outside the development zone to strengthen the exchange of production and operation experience,increase investment in local education,relax the talent settlement policy,attract high-level talents to work locally,and promote the prosperity of the regional economy.(3)China has a vast territory,and there are differences in the development level of enterprises between regions.Enterprises should give full play to their own location advantages,and management departments should actively promote coordinated regional development and reduce local protectionism.