Dahai Fu, Yanrui Wu, Yihong Tang
Author information
a UWA Business School, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
b UWA Business School, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
c School of International Trade and Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China
E-mail: dahai.fu@yahoo.com(Dahai Fu), yanrui.wu@uwa.edu.au(Yanrui Wu), tangyihong@cufe.edu.cn( Yihong Tang)
This paper investigates the impact of innovation on export decisions of Chinese high-tech firms during the period of 2005–2007. Using a parametric, instrumental variable approach and a non-parametric matching method, we find that firm-level innovation efforts, measured by R&D spending and new product output, play only a minor role for domestic exporters. Foreign-invested firms dominate the high-tech exports but do not rely on indigenous innovation activities. These results demonstrate that the success of Chinese high-tech exports does not result from heavy R&D expenditure and technological progress. Moreover, different types of innovation measures show different impacts on the likelihood of exporting. The impacts of innovation on exporting vary widely across industries and Chinese regions.
exports , innovation , high technology , China
Dahai Fu, Yanrui Wu, Yihong Tang. Does Innovation Matter for Chinese High-Tech Exports? A Firm-Level Analysis. Front Econ Chin, 2012, 7(2): 218‒245 https://doi.org/10.3868/s060-001-012-0010-9