School of Economics, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
School of Economics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
PLoS One. 2022 Aug 4;17(8):e0268287. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268287. eCollection 2022.
This paper constructs a double difference model (DID) based on the China Private Enterprise Survey (CPES) data over the period 1995-2019, combined with the 2005 national census data and considering the policy shock of the implementation of the Chinese government's Minimum Wage Regulation in March 2004, to investigate whether rising labor costs promote private firms' innovation investment. Robustness tests are conducted using placebo tests and event study methods. The study finds that (1) rising labor costs significantly increase private firms' R&D investment and that this effect has significant lag and cumulative effects; (2) private industrial firms (especially above-scale private industrial firms) are more affected by rising labor costs than other private firms and have more incentives to increase innovation investment; and (3) innovation investment of below-scale private industrial firms is not significantly affected by rising labor costs.
本文基于中国私营企业调查（CPES）1995-2019 年的数据构建了双重差分模型（DID），结合 2005 年全国普查数据，并考虑到 2004 年 3 月中国政府实施最低工资规定的政策冲击，考察了劳动力成本上升是否促进了私营企业的创新投资。采用安慰剂检验和事件研究方法进行了稳健性检验。研究结果表明：（1）劳动力成本上升显著促进了私营企业的研发投资，且这种效应具有显著的滞后和累积效应；（2）私营工业企业（尤其是规模以上私营工业企业）受劳动力成本上升的影响大于其他私营企业，并有更大的激励增加创新投资；（3）劳动力成本上升对规模以下私营工业企业的创新投资没有显著影响。
