IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/chinae/v34y2026i2p142-181.html

Spillover Effects of Labor Protection: Minimum Wage and Digital Innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Yuanchao Bian
  • Kaiwen Wu
  • Junhong Bai

Abstract

Minimum wages standards for low‐income groups may encourage firms to adopt low‐skilled labor‐saving measures, generating spillover effects on digital innovation. This paper examines how minimum wages can influence firms' digital innovation through the substitution of high‐skilled labor for low‐skilled labor and the substitution of labor by intelligent capital. Following an increase in minimum wages, the number of patents related to enterprises' digital innovation increased. Minimum wage standards encouraged the upgrading of labor skills within enterprises, and accelerated the construction of automated and intelligent systems, leading to the substitution of low‐skilled labor by high‐skilled labor and intelligent capital. The effects of minimum wages on enterprises' digital innovation were mainly observed in labor‐intensive enterprises, non‐state‐owned enterprises, enterprises located in the eastern region, and those with relaxed financing constraints. This study provides insights into the factors influencing enterprises' digital innovation and can inform policies to encourage enterprises to achieve digital transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuanchao Bian & Kaiwen Wu & Junhong Bai, 2026. "Spillover Effects of Labor Protection: Minimum Wage and Digital Innovation," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 34(2), pages 142-181, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:34:y:2026:i:2:p:142-181
    DOI: 10.1111/cwe.70023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.70023
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/cwe.70023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:34:y:2026:i:2:p:142-181. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwepacn.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.