THE IMPACT OF R&D EFFICIENCY ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN CHINA: NON-LINEAR THRESHOLD EFFECTS
研究使用门槛估计技术，发现研发效率对中国经济增长的影响取决于金融发展水平，仅在金融高度发达的省份有显著正向作用，而研发投资规模大即使效率低也能促进增长。
This study uses a threshold estimation technique to examine whether the effect of R&D efficiency on economic growth in China differs according to the level of financial development. The results broadly confirm a nonlinear relationship between R&D efficiency and economic growth due to the dynamic and static threshold effects of financial development and R&D expenditure. This finding suggests that R&D efficiency does not significantly impact growth in the low and middle-financial development provinces at conventional levels. Hence, the benefit of R&D efficiency in China could stem from the positive effect of R&D in highly financially developed provinces. Though R&D efficiency is poor, R&D investment still enhances economic growth because the amount of R&D investment is enormous. This finding suggests that while it is most important to not unthinkingly expand R&D gross investment, it is also necessary to make full use of R&D investment by improving R&D efficiency.