Crowding-Out or Spillover: Reassessment on the Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Innovation Efficiency

This paper established a three-stage DEA model to measure the innovation efficiency of Chinese listed companies over the period 2008 to 2019, and then tested the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on innovation efficiency with DID model. The results show that: (1) The innovation efficiency of enterprises along the Belt and Road are slightly lower than that of other enterprises, but the former improves faster. (2) The impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on innovation efficiency is mainly spillover and the impact tends to fluctuate upwards year by year. (3) The Belt and Road Initiative has effectively expanded the R&D capital stock, which is an important mediating factor in boosting the innovation efficiency.