Search Results (3)

The impact of state-level development zones on company innovation behaviors—specifically, innovation input, output, and quality—is examined in this research. This study utilizes the establishment of state-level development zones as a quasi-natural experiment and employs a Staggered Difference-In-Difference model to systematically evaluate the actual effects. Furthermore, this research focuses on the heterogeneous effects of state-level development zones on enterprise innovation, taking into account different functional positionings, such as the Economic and Technological Development Zone (ETDZ), the High-Tech Industrial Development Zone (HIDZ), and the Special Customs Supervision Zone (SCSZ). The results of previous research indicate that the establishment of state-level development zones may effectively foster company innovation and have a noteworthy effect on the input, output, and quality of innovation. The establishment of ETDZs and HIDZs can significantly encourage enterprises to increase their investment in innovation. The innovation incentive effect of HIDZs is stronger than that of ETDZs. On the other hand, the establishment of SCSZs is more beneficial for improving the output and quality of innovation in enterprises. ETDZs can promote innovation output by adjusting industry agglomeration in the region. HIDZs can encourage enterprises to increase their innovation input by intensifying tax preferences and reducing the level of industry agglomeration. SCSZs can effectively promote the innovation input, innovation output, and innovation quality of enterprises by increasing government subsidies and the intensity of tax preferences. Full article

China’s high-tech industrial development zones (HIDZs) is a key “place-based” policy targeting national innovation-driven development. Despite the extensive research on HIDZs, it remains unclear whether and to what extent the policy has fostered cities’ innovation output and quality. Basing our research on panel data of Chinese cities from 2001 to 2019, we employed the PSM-DID model to examine the impact of HIDZs policy on their host cities’ innovation output and quality. The empirical results show that: (1) In general, the establishment of HIDZs has a more significant positive effect on fostering urban innovation output compared to its role in promoting urban innovation quality. However, (2) the effect on urban innovation output and quality varies across different cities. For cities with more advantageous locations and policies, HIDZ policy plays a more instrumental role in promoting the quality of urban innovation, while the establishment of HIDZs in other cities is more conducive to increasing the output of urban innovation. Ultimately, we argue that authorities must recognize the importance of integrated development of HIDZs and their host cities and incorporating HIDZs’ impact on the host cities into the HIDZ evaluation. It is necessary to understand that HIDZs have multiple development modes due to their specific local conditions. Hence, differentiated guidance must be carried out rather than directly replicating the experience from developed regions. Full article

Among China’s existing state-level High-tech Industry Development Zones (HIDZ), the number of upgraded ones account for more than 65%, which are supposed to fulfill the important mission of leading innovation. However, while the upgraded state-level HIDZ enjoy more opportunities than before, they also face major challenges such as the significant inter-generational differences between them and the born state-level HIDZ. Based on the panel data of Chinese (prefecture-level) cities from 2007 to 2015, the paper empirically examines the impact of the state-level upgrade of HIDZ on urban innovation efficiency by using a difference-in-differences propensity score matching approach (PSM-DID). The results show that the upgraded state-level HIDZ has significantly improved urban innovation efficiency, and this positive effect has gradually increased with the implementation of the upgrade policy. The further heterogeneity analysis shows that the higher the scientific research level of higher education institutions in the cities, the greater the promotion effect of the state-level upgrade. The paper evaluates the policy effect of the upgraded state-level HIDZ from their stated mission, which is a powerful complement to the existing research and provides more effective guidance for policy-makers. Full article