The Returns to Innovation of Chinese Firms : Based on Empirical Evidence from the "China Manufacturing Enterprises Survey"

In the context of the explosive growth in the scale of innovation in China, the increase in innovation yield is becoming increasingly important for long-term economic growth and productivity improvement. Based on a systematic review of existing literature, this paper, from the perspective of "innovation input-innovation output-innovation effect", conducts a multi-dimensional empirical test on the direct return rate and economic return rate of Chinese enterprises’ innovation at the present stage. Based on the data of the 2018 "China Manufacturing Enterprises Survey", empirical research finds that the low efficiency of innovation input and the low transformational capacity are the important reasons for the low direct return on innovation. The low quality of innovation has become an important reason to restrict the improvement of innovation economic returns.