IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0315841.html

Policy effects of reduced pension contribution rate on innovation input——Empirical evidence from Zhejiang and Shandong provinces

Author

Listed:
  • Zimian He
  • Jianwei Xu

Abstract

Reducing pension insurance rates is an important measure for lowering the burden on enterprises. Does this measure encourage enterprises to invest in innovation? This study uses provincial panel data of China during 2000–2017 to analyze the reduction in the proportion of enterprise contributions to pension insurance in Zhejiang and Shandong provinces as a quasi-natural experiment. Specifically, it uses the synthetic control method to construct a counterfactual state of the treatment group, and analyzes the effect of fee reduction policy on enterprise innovation input. Taking R&D intensity as a proxy for innovation input, the study finds that the cost reduction policy has a significant promoting effect on innovation input. Although the reduction of pension insurance rate in Shandong is smaller than that in Zhejiang, the net effect of policy on R&D intensity is higher than that in Zhejiang. This study uses a placebo test, permutation test, and difference-in-differences method to carry out robustness checks, and confirms that the results are reliable, showing that the reduction of pension premium is conducive to the increase in enterprises’ R&D intensity. However, owing to different economic development cycles in different regions, the net effect of pension premium reduction on enterprise innovation shows heterogeneity.

Suggested Citation

  • Zimian He & Jianwei Xu, 2024. "Policy effects of reduced pension contribution rate on innovation input——Empirical evidence from Zhejiang and Shandong provinces," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(12), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0315841
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315841
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0315841
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0315841&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0315841?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. Jing Cai & Yuyu Chen & Xuan Wang, 2018. "The Impact of Corporate Taxes on Firm Innovation: Evidence from the Corporate Tax Collection Reform in China," NBER Working Papers 25146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    3. Adriana D. Kugler & Maurice D. Kugler & Luis O. Herrera-Prada, 2017. "Do Payroll Tax Breaks Stimulate Formality? Evidence from Colombia’s Reform," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2017), pages 3-40.
    4. Krueger, Alan B & Summers, Lawrence H, 1988. "Efficiency Wages and the Inter-industry Wage Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 259-293, March.
    5. Xianhai Huang & Hangyu Chen & Gaoju Yang, 2017. "Do Rising Labour Costs Drive Innovation in Enterprises? Propensity Score Matching Evidence from Chinese Firms," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 23-42, February.
    6. Ufuk Akcigit & John Grigsby & Tom Nicholas & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2022. "Taxation and Innovation in the Twentieth Century," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(1), pages 329-385.
    7. Daniel J. Wilson, 2009. "Beggar Thy Neighbor? The In-State, Out-of-State, and Aggregate Effects of R&D Tax Credits," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 431-436, May.
    8. Irem Guceri, 2018. "Will the real R&D employees please stand up? Effects of tax breaks on firm-level outcomes," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(1), pages 1-63, February.
    9. Rao, Nirupama, 2016. "Do tax credits stimulate R&D spending? The effect of the R&D tax credit in its first decade," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-12.
    10. Daron Acemoglu, 2010. "When Does Labor Scarcity Encourage Innovation?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(6), pages 1037-1078.
    11. Nicholas Bloom & Mark Schankerman & John Van Reenen, 2013. "Identifying Technology Spillovers and Product Market Rivalry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(4), pages 1347-1393, July.
    12. Kugler, Adriana D. & Kugler, Maurice D. & Herrera-Prada, Luis O., 2017. "Do payroll tax breaks stimulate formality? Evidence from Colombia’s reform," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 123312, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1974. "Alternative Theories of Wage Determination and Unemployment in LDC's: The Labor Turnover Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 88(2), pages 194-227.
    14. Albert Bravo-Biosca & Chiara Criscuolo & Carlo Menon, 2016. "What drives the dynamics of business growth?," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 31(88), pages 703-742.
    15. Kleinknecht, Alfred, 1998. "Is Labour Market Flexibility Harmful to Innovation?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 22(3), pages 387-396, May.
    16. Goolsbee, Austan, 2003. "Investment Subsidies and Wages in Capital Goods Industries: To the Workers Go the Spoils?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 56(1), pages 153-165, March.
    17. Steve R. Bond & Irem Guceri, 2012. "Trends in UK BERD after the Introduction of R&D Tax Credits," Working Papers 1201, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    18. John Duffy & Chris Papageorgiou & Fidel Perez-Sebastian, 2004. "Capital-Skill Complementarity? Evidence from a Panel of Countries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 327-344, February.
    19. Paul M. Romer, 2001. "Should the Government Subsidize Supply or Demand in the Market for Scientists and Engineers?," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 1, pages 221-252, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Mukherjee, Abhiroop & Singh, Manpreet & Žaldokas, Alminas, 2017. "Do corporate taxes hinder innovation?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 195-221.
    21. Jean Tirole, 2006. "The Theory of Corporate Finance," Post-Print hal-00173191, HAL.
    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. Melnik, Walter & Smyth, Andrew, 2024. "R&D tax credits and innovation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    2. Knoll, Bodo & Riedel, Nadine & Schwab, Thomas & Todtenhaupt, Maximilian & Voget, Johannes, 2021. "Cross-border effects of R&D tax incentives," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    3. Chen, Sheng-Syan & Kao, Wei-Chuan & Wang, Yanzhi, 2021. "Tax policy and innovation performance: Evidence from enactment of the alternative simplified credit," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    4. Cowx, Mary, 2025. "Tax enforcement and R&D credits," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1).
    5. Silvia Appelt & Matej Bajgar & Chiara Criscuolo & Fernando Galindo-Rueda, 2025. "How effective are R&D tax incentives? Reconciling micro and macro evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp2071, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Oliver Falck & Anna Kerkhof & Christian Pfaffl, 2023. "Taxation and Innovation: How R&D Tax Credit Schemes Foster Innovation in the Private Sector," EconPol Forum, CESifo, vol. 24(04), pages 61-66, July.
    7. Mellace, Giovanni & Ventura, Marco, 2019. "Intended and unintended effects of public incentives for innovation. Quasi-experimental evidence from Italy," Discussion Papers on Economics 9/2019, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    8. Tania Babina & Sabrina T. Howell, 2018. "Entrepreneurial Spillovers from Corporate R&D," NBER Working Papers 25360, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Dechezlepretre, Antoine & Einiö, Elias & Martin, Ralf & Nguyen, Kieu-Trang & Reenen, John Van, 2016. "Do tax incentives for research increase firm innovation? An RD design for R&D, patents and spillovers," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 66428, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Kempf, Elisabeth & Spalt, Oliver G., 2020. "Attracting the Sharks: Corporate Innovation and Securities Class Action Lawsuits," CEPR Discussion Papers 14358, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen & Heidi Williams, 2019. "A toolkit of policies to promote innovation," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 10.
    12. İrem Güçeri & Marko Köthenbürger & Martin Simmler, 2020. "Supporting Firm Innovation and R&D: What is the Optimal Policy Mix?," EconPol Policy Reports 20, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    13. Schwab, Thomas & Todtenhaupt, Maximilian, 2021. "Thinking outside the box: The cross-border effect of tax cuts on R&D," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    14. Chetty, Raj & Bell, Alex & Jaravel, Xavier & Petkova, Neviana & Van Reenen, John, 2019. "Do tax cuts produce more Einsteins? The impact of financial incentives vs. exposure to innovation on the supply of inventors," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102606, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Li, Qin & Ma, Mark (Shuai) & Shevlin, Terry, 2021. "The effect of tax avoidance crackdown on corporate innovation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2).
    16. Goldman, Jim & Peress, Joel, 2023. "Firm R&D and financial analysis: How do they interact?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    17. Douglas Hanley & Ufuk Akcigit & Nicolas Serrano-Velarde, 2014. "Back to Basics: Basic Research Spillovers, Innovation Policy and Growth," Working Paper 535, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Jan 2014.
    18. Sabrina T. Howell & Filippo Mezzanotti, 2019. "Financing Entrepreneurship through the Tax Code: Angel Investor Tax Credits," NBER Working Papers 26486, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Elias Einiö & Ralf Martin & Kieu-Trang Nguyen & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Do tax Incentives for Research Increase Firm Innovation? An RD Design for R&D," NBER Working Papers 22405, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Hangjuan & Liu, Yuanyuan & Yang, Jinyu & Zhang, Yanren, 2024. "Personal income tax and corporate innovation: The key role of inventors’ financial incentives," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 164(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:pone00:0315841. 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.