自由贸易试验区建设如何提升要素配置效率？

颜洪平，熊凯军，许鹏

（海南大学 国际商学院，海南 海口 570228）

摘要：制度创新是提高资源配置效率的关键。为评估自由贸易试验区（下文简称“自贸区”）建设能否提升要素配置效率，选取2011—2021年中国地级市面板数据，以设立自贸区政策作为一项准自然实验，检验自贸区设立对地区间要素配置扭曲的影响及作用机制。研究结果发现：（1）自贸区建设改善了本地区资源配置扭曲，同时对周边地区存在空间溢出作用，政策效应在高行政等级、市场分配资源比重大的自贸区中更为明显；（2）机制分析结果表明，自贸区通过活跃金融市场、提升政府管理效率、优化市场机制、改善法治环境和提高对外开放度，改善了营商环境，进而提高要素配置效率；（3）进一步研究结果表明，自贸区的资本扭曲和劳动扭曲存在异质性，自贸区建设能缓解资本扭曲，资本扭曲是要素错配的主要成因；（4）从空间效应上，自贸区建设对本地区资源错配的改善效果要优于其邻近地区，能有效改善邻近城市的劳动扭曲，对资本扭曲则表现出“协调性集聚”的趋势。研究结论为推动新一轮区域改革、提升资源要素配置效率和推动经济高质量发展提供了重要政策启示。

关键词：营商环境；要素错配；自由贸易试验区；空间溢出

作者简介：颜洪平（1978—），男，海南大学国际商学院教授，博士生导师；熊凯军（1994—），男，海南大学国际商学院讲师；许鹏（1999—），男，海南大学国际商学院硕士研究生，通信作者。

基金项目：海南省自然科学基金高层次人才项目“双循环格局下产业转移政策效应评估及演化路径研究”（725RC728）；国家自然科学基金地区项目“数智融合驱动战略性新兴产业互联式创新研究：基于多层复杂网络视角”（72563008）；海南省高等学校科学研究项目“海南自贸港推动风险投资进入培育壮大高新技术产业集群路径研究”（Hnky2025-8）

引用格式：颜洪平,熊凯军,许鹏.自由贸易试验区建设如何提升要素配置效率?[J].首都经济贸易大学学报,2025,27(6):96-108.

How China's Free Trade Zones Enhance Factor Allocation Efficiency？

YAN Hongping, XIONG Kaijun, XU Peng

(Hainan University, Haikou 570228)

Abstract:Rectifying resource misallocation in the economy and society represents a nation's potential for long-term economic growth, and is the most effective pathway to enhance social welfare and ensure the optimal utilization of resources. A favorable business environment facilitates the low-cost, free flow of factors across regions and industries, thereby mitigating administrative monopolies and market segmentation between regions. The functional orientation of free trade zones (FTZs) focuses on institutional innovation, high-standard opening up, and optimizing the business environment, which influences urban innovation development strategies and the efficiency of factor allocation, consequently alleviating urban resource misallocation.

To further evaluate whether the establishment of FTZs in China improves factor allocation efficiency, this study employs panel data from 277 prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2021, treating the FTZs policy as a quasi-natural experiment to examine its impact on interregional factor allocation distortion and the underlying mechanisms. The findings are as follows:

(1) Benchmark regression results indicate that the establishment of FTZs mitigates resource misallocation within the local region while generating positive spatial spillover effects on neighboring areas.

(2) Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the policy effects are more pronounced in FTZs with higher administrative hierarchy and greater reliance on market-based allocation of economic resources.

(3) Mechanism analysis demonstrates that FTZs enhance the business environment by fostering vibrant financial markets, improving government efficiency, optimizing market mechanisms, strengthening the legal environment, and promoting openness, thereby improving factor allocation efficiency.

(4) Further analysis shows significant heterogeneity in capital and labor distortion. FTZs construction significantly alleviates capital distortion, which is identified as the primary cause of resource misallocation.

(5) Regarding spatial effects, the improvement in resource misallocation is more substantial within the FTZs compared to neighboring regions; FTZs effectively reduce labor distortion in adjacent cities, while their impact on capital distortion exhibits a trend of “coordinated agglomeration”. The conclusions provide important policy implications for China in advancing a new round of regional reform, enhancing resource allocation efficiency, and promoting high-quality regional economic development.

Keywords: business environment; factor misallocation; FTZs; spatial spillover

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