IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0272003.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of economic growth target constraints on enterprise technological innovation: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Enji Li
  • Ziwei An
  • Chen Zhang
  • Hua Li

Abstract

By using the data from Chinese listed companies in the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share market for the period 2007 to 2019 and the Report on the Work of the Government, this paper investigates the impact of the local government’s economic growth target constraints on enterprise technological innovation and its mechanism. It is found that the local government’s economic growth target constraints significantly inhibit enterprise technological innovation, which is more obvious in the samples of SOEs, regulated industries, and enterprises at low marketization levels. The change of government officials’ performance appraisal indicators from the quantity to quality of economic growth can alleviate the negative effect. The mechanism effect test indicates that the local government’s economic growth target constraints will aggravate enterprise financing constraints and decrease the contribution of R&D investment to enterprise performance, and further inhibit enterprise technological innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Enji Li & Ziwei An & Chen Zhang & Hua Li, 2022. "Impact of economic growth target constraints on enterprise technological innovation: Evidence from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(8), pages 1-21, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0272003
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272003
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272003&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0272003?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Victor Chernozhukov & Denis Chetverikov & Mert Demirer & Esther Duflo & Christian Hansen & Whitney Newey & James Robins, 2018. "Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 21(1), pages 1-68, February.
    2. Liu, Dayong & Xu, Chunfa & Yu, Yongze & Rong, Kaijian & Zhang, Junyan, 2020. "Economic growth target, distortion of public expenditure and business cycle in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Xianxiang Xu & Yuanhua Gao, 2015. "Growth target management and regional economic growth," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 517-534, July.
    4. Xing Li & Chong Liu & Xi Weng & Li-An Zhou, 2019. "Target Setting in Tournaments: Theory and Evidence from China," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(623), pages 2888-2915.
    5. Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Political turnover and economic performance: the incentive role of personnel control in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1743-1762, September.
    6. Chen, Ye & Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Relative performance evaluation and the turnover of provincial leaders in China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 421-425, September.
    7. Victor Chernozhukov & Denis Chetverikov & Mert Demirer & Esther Duflo & Christian Hansen & Whitney Newey, 2017. "Double/Debiased/Neyman Machine Learning of Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 261-265, May.
    8. Huang, Zhonghua & Du, Xuejun, 2018. "Holding the market under the stimulus plan: Local government financing vehicles' land purchasing behavior in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 85-100.
    9. Wang, Jiayi & Lei, Ping, 2021. "The tournament of Chinese environmental protection: Strong or weak competition?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    10. Xufeng Su & Xiaodong Yang & Jinning Zhang & Jinling Yan & Junfeng Zhao & Jianliang Shen & Qiying Ran, 2021. "Analysis of the Impacts of Economic Growth Targets and Marketization on Energy Efficiency: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, April.
    11. repec:oup:econjl:v:129:y:2019:i:10:p:2888-2915. is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yu Hao & Jingwen Huang & Yunxia Guo & Haitao Wu & Siyu Ren, 2022. "Does the legacy of state planning put pressure on ecological efficiency? Evidence from China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3100-3121, November.
    2. Keliang Wang & Bin Zhao & Tianzheng Fan & Jinning Zhang, 2022. "Economic Growth Targets and Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Ren, Meixu & Ke, Konglin & Yu, Xin & Zhao, Jinxuan, 2023. "Local governments' economic growth target pressure and bank loan loss provision: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-14.
    4. Can Zhang & Tengfei Liu & Jixia Li & Mengzhi Xu & Xu Li & Huachun Wang, 2023. "Economic Growth Target, Government Expenditure Behavior, and Cities’ Ecological Efficiency—Evidence from 284 Cities in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-30, January.
    5. Chen, Bochao & Wang, Hang & Wang, Xianbin, 2024. "Innovation Like China: Evidence from Chinese Local Officials' Promotions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Liang, Quanxi & Huang, Jinlan & Liang, Mingjun & Li, Jingxiang, 2024. "Economic growth targets and bank risk exposure: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. ZhengZheng Shi & Hongwen Chen & Kunxian Chen, 2023. "Does the economic growth target overweight induce more polluting activities? Evidence from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(3), pages 1-17, March.
    8. Cong Yu & Linke Hou & Yuxia Lyu & Qi Zhang, 2022. "Political competition, spatial interactions, and default risk of local government debts in China," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(3), pages 717-743, June.
    9. Zhai, Ying & Wang, Wenzhi & Zhou, Liying, 2024. "Green efficiency loss caused by economic growth goals: Evidence from an emerging economy," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 983-995.
    10. Xinyue Wang & Kegao Yan & Yang Shi & Han Hu & Shanjun Mao, 2025. "The Nonlinear Impact of Economic Growth Pressure on Urban Land Green Utilization Efficiency—Empirical Research from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-29, March.
    11. Mao, Wenfeng & Cai, Siyuan & Lu, Jun & Yang, Haotian, 2023. "What triggered China's urban debt risk? Snowball effect under the growth target constraint," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1-13.
    12. Hongji Xie & Cunzhi Tian & Fangying Pang, 2023. "Multi-Tasking Policy Coordination and Corporate Environmental Performance: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Chai, Jingxia & Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu, 2022. "Planned economic growth and controlled energy demand: How do regional growth targets affect energy consumption in China?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    14. Enji Li & Qing Chen & Xinyan Zhang & Chen Zhang, 2023. "Digital Government Development, Local Governments’ Attention Distribution and Enterprise Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, January.
    15. Yu, Yongze & Li, Ke & Duan, Shenglan & Song, Chenchen, 2023. "Economic growth and environmental pollution in China: New evidence from government work reports," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    16. He, Yi & Chen, Haixin & Zhang, Tingyu, 2024. "Exploring the impact of economic and environmental target constraints on and the green investment efficiency of firms: The moderating role of anti-corruption," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    17. Xiangyan Wang & Jinye Li & Nannan Wang, 2023. "Are Economic Growth Pressures Inhibiting Green Total Factor Productivity Growth?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-23, March.
    18. Ji, Xiaoqing & Liu, Shuai & Lang, Jingyi, 2022. "Assessing the impact of officials' turnover on urban economic efficiency: From the perspective of political promotion incentive and power rent-seeking incentive," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    19. Jiang, Qisheng & Tang, Pengcheng, 2023. "All roads lead to Rome? Carbon emissions, pollutant emissions and local officials’ political promotion in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    20. Ge, Tao & Li, Chunying & Li, Jinye & Hao, Xionglei, 2023. "Does neighboring green development benefit or suffer from local economic growth targets? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

    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:plo:pone00:0272003. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.