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The purpose of this study is to find the relationships among the high- and new-technology enterprise (HNTE) identification policy, firm’s total factor productivity (TFP) and the marketization process by using data obtained from China manufacturing firms.

Propensity matching score – difference-in-difference modeling are used to investigate the relationships among the HNTE identification policy, firm’s TFP and the marketization process. In addition, the complex relations between policy and firm’s TFP, including in the proposed model, are assessed in detail through the mediation analysis.

The results show that the HNTE identification policy can promote firm’s TFP, but its effect depends on the marketization process. The transmission path of HNTE identification policy to promote enterprise productivity lies in the optimization of incentive mechanism, including the improvement of enterprise labor productivity, the reduction of income tax burden and cost and the reduction of financing constraints. In industries and regions with more effective market mechanism, as well as industries with more intense market competition, the productivity promotion effect of the HNTE identification policy is stronger. In industries and regions with low degree of marketization, as well as industries with low degree of market competition, the productivity promotion effect brought by the improvement of incentive mechanism is distorted, which actually inhibit the promotion of enterprises’ TFP.

The study confirms that the HNTE identification policy plays an important role in enhancing the TFP of China’s manufacturing firm. Policy makers can adopt industrial policy in the key industries and technology areas that are meaningful but market failure. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the effect of the HNTE identification policy largely depends on the marketization process. These finding imply that when formulating an industrial policy, the marketization process of the industry and region should be taken into account.

The paper analyzes the relationship among the HNTE identification policy, firm’s TFP and the marketization process. Panel data are used to discuss the mechanism of HNTE identification policy affecting firm’s TFP. The paper also reveals the effect of the marketization process on the effectiveness of the HNTE identification policy.