摘要
Abstract
Innovation is the driving force for high-quality economic development.As an important reference in the anti-monopoly enforcement process,it has been incorporated into China's anti-monopoly law revised in 2022.Under an asymmetric vertical competition structure,upstream monopolistic behaviors capture the innovation gains of downstream firms,exerting a negative impact on the innovation behaviors of downstream firms.Therefore,as China's competition policy framework continues to evolve,it remains to be thoroughly explored whether the upstream monopolistic behaviors have been effectively regulated,whether such regulation has alleviated the negative effect on the innovation of downstream firms,and what the underlying mechanisms are.Taking high-quality innovation as the primary task,exploring the impact of competition policy on the upstream and downstream industrial chains is crucial for promoting research on competition policy in the market system.
This paper introduces the assumption of asymmetric competition between upstream and downstream firms into the heterogeneous firm monopolistic competition model,constructing a benchmark model that includes upstream monopolistic firms and downstream heterogeneous monopolistic competition firms.It also incorporates competition policy and innovation behaviors into the model to depict how competition policy affects firms' high-quality innovation under the asymmetric vertical structure.Empirically,using data from A-share listed manufacturing companies in China from 2017 to 2024,this paper treats the implementation of the revised anti-monopoly law as a quasi-natural experiment and applies a continuous difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of the upstream competition shock generated by anti-monopoly regulations on the high-quality innovation of downstream firms.
The findings reveal that the revised anti-monopoly law enhances high-quality innovation of downstream firms by regulating upstream monopolistic behaviors.This conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests.Mechanism tests indicate that the enhancing effect is mainly achieved through reducing intermediate costs,alleviating financing constraints,and inducing competition among downstream firms.Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect is more pronounced in competitive industries,high-tech industries,and non-state-owned firms.
The possible marginal contributions are threefold.First,this paper investigates the effectiveness of competition policy and its coordination with industrial policy under the high-quality innovation paradigm from a vertical industrial chain perspective.Second,it introduces competition policy and innovation behaviors into the asymmetric vertical structure and proposes a new mechanism by which competition policy regulates upstream monopolistic behaviors and then induces innovation among downstream firms,yielding new conclusions.Third,it provides a factual basis and references for the assessment of competition policy and the subsequent policy adjustments and optimization under the high-quality innovation paradigm.关键词
上游竞争冲击/竞争政策/高质量创新/反垄断法/非对称垂直结构Key words
upstream competition shock/competition policy/high-quality innovation/anti-monopoly law/asymmetric vertical structure分类
管理科学
