Comparative analysis of total factor productivity in China's high-tech industries

The high-tech industry is a high-end component of the modern industrial system, and the key to high-quality development is to improve total factor productivity (TFP). This article divides the innovation process of the high-tech industry into two sub-stages: technology development and economic conversion. Based on the panel data of high-tech sectors, Malmquist and Hicks-Moorsteen indices are applied to measure the productivity changes. Furthermore, the index decomposition dissects the technological change rate and technical efficiency change, thereby identifying the main factors affecting the productivity change. The results show that the TFP of high-tech industries in China and various regions is upward. From the perspective of each region, the main growth driver in the national and Eastern regions is technological progress, while that in the Central and Western regions is mainly technical efficiency changes. In addition, in terms of each sub-stage, the main growth driver in the technology development stage is technical efficiency change, while in the economic conversion stage and the overall system, technological progress is the primary growth driver.