Will Market-Oriented Reforms Propel Technology Progress?Empirical Evidence from China’s High-Tech Sectors

摘要

This paper aims to explore the effects of market-oriented reforms on industrial technology progress.Based on a theoretical analysis,we performed an empirical study with a marketization index and panel data of high-tech sectors in China.We found that market-oriented reforms had significantly propelled technology progress in China’s high-tech sectors,and the effects became more evident after China’s WTO entry.Market-oriented reforms induced technology progress by increasing capital allocation efficiency,R&D input,and technology diffusion.Among various aspects of market-oriented reforms,the institutional environment exerted the most significant effects,followed by the economy’s non-state sector,product market development,and factor market development;the government-market relationship index influenced technology’s progress the least.The effects are heterogeneous across sectors with different technology attributes and more significant for technology-intensive sectors.Our findings offer policy implications for China’s ongoing market-oriented reforms and policy design for technology progress in high-tech sectors.