产品质量是推动我国外贸高质量发展、加快建设贸易强国的重要支撑,是出口数量增长和竞争力提升的内在动力。本文基于美国国际贸易委员会“不公平进口调查信息系统库”、中国工业企业数据库和中国海关数据库,整理得到微观数据。通过运用双重差分法,实证研究知识产权立案与终裁对中国企业出口产品质量的影响。研究结果表明:(1)知识产权立案调查对中国被诉企业出口产品质量有显著提升作用,这主要是因为被诉企业面对外部压力,为保持在美国市场份额,“倒逼”开展技术创新以及进行内部产品结构调整,从而提升出口产品质量;(2)在知识产权调查终裁败诉后,企业面临应诉成本高昂,对美销售减少引发的融资压力以及转向非美市场的贸易转移会阻碍被诉企业出口产品质量的提升;(3)异质性分析发现,知识产权调查对企业出口产品质量的影响因企业对美国市场的依赖程度而异;相较于对美国市场高依赖度企业而言,知识产权立案调查对美国市场低依赖度企业的产品质量促进作用较为有限,而终裁败诉对其出口产品质量的负面影响较小。本文不仅从微观视角拓展了外部需求端冲击对企业出口产品质量影响的研究,同时也为我国政府在建设知识产权涉外风险防控体系及企业海外知识产权维权机制方面提供了实际的参考。

Product quality is an important support for promoting the high-quality development of China's foreign trade and accelerating the construction of a trading powerhouse. It is also an intrinsic driving force for the growth in export quantity and enhancement of competitiveness. This paper utilized the micro-level data obtained from unfair import investigations of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database, and the Chinese Customs Database. Through the application of the Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach, it empirically analyzed the impact of intellectual property investigations on the export product quality of involved Chinese enterprises. The research findings are as follows: (1) intellectual property registration investigations have a significant positive effect on the export product quality of Chinese enterprises under investigation. This is mainly attributed to the external pressure faced by these enterprises. In order to maintain their market share in the United States, they were forced to engage in technological innovation and internal product structure perfection, thereby improving the quality of their export products; (2) When the final ruling of an intellectual property investigation is unfavorable, the investigated enterprises will face several challenges. High litigation costs, financing pressure due to reduced sales in the United States, and potential trade diversions to non-US markets all work against the improvement of their export product quality; (3) Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the impact of intellectual property investigations on export product quality varies depending on the degree of reliance on the US market by the enterprises. Compared with the enterprises with high reliance on the US market, it was found that intellectual property registration investigations have a relatively limited promotional effect on the product quality of the enterprises with low reliance on the US market, while the negative impact of a final ruling loss on their export product quality is relatively small. This paper has extended the research on how external demand shocks affect the export product quality of enterprises, with a focus on micro-level analysis. Additionally, it will offer some practical guidance for the Chinese government in developing a system to prevent and control risks associated with foreign intellectual property. It will also suggest some means to establish mechanisms for the protection of overseas intellectual property rights for enterprises.