For More Effective Innovation: The Complementary Role of the Market for Ideas in Government Subsidizing Innovation

The role of government subsidies in improving innovation efficiency has long been questioned. Due to information asymmetry, a lot of resource misallocation may exist in the process of government compensating for the externalities of innovation. Few studies have focused on the complementary role the Market for Ideas (MFI) plays in allocating innovation resources to governmental actions. Against this background, this study discusses the effects of government subsidies on the innovation efficiency and the effects of MFI on government subsidies, and then analyzes the effects of government subsidies and the MFI on the efficiency of knowledge innovation and product innovation, respectively. An empirical study that takes a panel data for China covering 30 provinces over the period from 2003 to 2022 and applies the threshold model is also carried out to test the conclusions from theoretical analysis. This study produces two findings: First, government subsidies can always promote the efficiency of knowledge innovation however well the MFI develops. The better the MFI works, the stronger promotion the government subsidies give to play. Second, the absence of market mechanism may lead to the misallocation of government subsidies when the MFI is underdeveloped, hence restricting the efficiency of product innovation featured with novel products and services. However, government subsidies will improve the efficiency of product innovation once the developed MFI is formed.

政府补贴对提升创新效率的作用长期以来备受质疑。受信息不对称制约，政府在弥补创新外部性的过程中，极易出现大量资源错配现象。目前学界鲜有研究关注创意市场（Market for Ideas，MFI）在为政府行为配置创新资源时所发挥的补充性作用。
在此研究背景下，本文首先探讨了政府补贴对创新效率的影响，以及MFI对政府补贴实施效果的调节效应，随后分别剖析了政府补贴与MFI各自对知识创新效率、产品创新效率的作用效果。基于2003-2022年中国30个省份的面板数据，本文运用门槛模型开展实证研究，以验证理论分析所得出的核心结论。
本研究得到两项关键发现：其一，无论MFI发展水平如何，政府补贴均能显著促进知识创新效率提升，且MFI发育程度越高，政府补贴的正向促进作用越强。其二，当MFI发育不完善时，市场机制的缺失会引发政府补贴的资源错配问题，进而制约以新颖产品与服务为核心特征的产品创新效率；而当MFI发展成熟后，政府补贴则能有效提升产品创新效率。