The Impact Of Technological Innovation On Labor Income Share

In China,labor's share of income had generally shown a U-shaped curve development trend from 1997 to 2017.The unreasonable pattern of income distribution has caused lots of negative effect.As China pays attention to its domestic demand,the adjustment of distribution relations has become a key incentive and core content of economic reform.This paper explores how innovation effects the income distribution method from a general perspective.The results show that:(1)Technological innovation has changed the original income distribution method,and multiple estimation methods support this conclusion.(2)The influence on the original income distribution pattern was higher in 2015-2017,and the influence on the original income distribution pattern was relatively low at other stages.(3)The sub-sample test based on geographical location also shows that technological innovation in different regions have different driving capacities for labor income share.(4)The threshold effect test shows that the patent barriers effectively protect the interests of subjects,and internal employees can use patent barriers to expand the income distribution effect.The investigation of the heterogeneity of technological innovation shows that:(1)Under different property rights,technological innovation has different promotion effects on the original income distribution pattern.(2)The degree of influence depends on the innovation environment construction.In regions with a high level of innovation environment construction,the change in labor income share driven by technological innovation is twice that of other regions.(3)Technological innovation has periodicity,and the effect is bigger in start-up enterprises.(4)The quality of technological innovation influences the ability of R&D expenditure to change the original income distribution pattern.This gap stems from the significant economic value of invention patents and the long term of protection.(5)The market structure influences the aim of R&D expenditure,and the benefits flow more to business owners in monopolistic markets.Analyzing the transmission channels,the results show that:(1)R&D activities improve the position in the international value chain,thereby avoiding the "lowerlower wage competition".(2)Scarce high-quality labors are necessary conditions for technological innovation,and the bargaining power of technical personnel has led to a change to the original income distribution pattern.(3)R&D activities influence the combination of factors and squeeze the employment opportunities of low-skilled laborers.(4)The unique asset structure of innovative enterprises forces enterprises to relieve capital pressure through internal savings,and technological innovation indirectly squeezes labor income share through external financing.In the future,we should start from improving the ecological environment of innovation,and further exert the income distribution adjustment mechanism centered on technological innovation.