Technology Import and China's Innovation Capability: Does Institutional Quality Matter?

Abstract

With the rapid growth of China's economy, technology import plays a crucial role in enhancing regional innovation capability. Based on inter-provincial panel data from 2007 to 2016, this paper uses three benchmark linear regression models of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Difference-Generalized Method of Moments (DIFF-GMM), and System-Generalized Method of Moments (SYS-GMM) to explore the improvement of China's regional innovation capability by technology import. Then, the regional institutional quality level is measured from the three dimensions of politics, economy, and law, and the two-step difference GMM threshold panel model is used to analyze the effect of technology import on regional innovation capability under different institutional quality conditions. The results show that: (1) In the benchmark linear regression model, technology import has a significant role in promoting regional innovation capability. (2) With the rise of regional corruption, the quality of political institution declines, and the promotion effect of technology import on regional innovation ability is weakened. (3) The improvement of the marketization level and intellectual property protection level strengthen the role of technology introduction in promoting regional innovation capability. On the contrary, in regions with low economic and legal institutional quality, technology import has no significant impact on regional innovation capability.