Abstract:     Cultivating and upgrading the new quality productivity of enterprises is an important way to accelerate the structural transformation of China′s old and new kinetic energy and to promote the realization of Chinese-style modernization. This paper used the data from A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2013-2022 to examine the impact of market access liberalization on enterprises′ new quality productivity by using a quasi-natural experiment, the Negative Market Access List (Pilot). The study found that market access liberalization can promote new quality productivity gains for enterprises, as evidenced by the fact that compared to enterprises in regions not affected by the policy, enterprises in regions affected by the policy have a new quality productivity gain of about 1.42%.  The mechanistic analysis showed that the effect of market access liberalization on the new quality productivity of enterprises is mainly realized through the market competition effect and the systemic cost effect. The heterogeneity studies found that the effect of market access liberalization on enterprises′ new quality productivity is higher among enterprises with lower levels of corporate governance and higher likelihood of financing constraints. Finally, in the context of a system of liberalized market access, the increase in the new quality of productivity of enterprises is conducive to promoting the value of corporate investment. The relevant conclusions can not only deepen the theoretical understanding of existing research on the enabling role of market access liberalization, but also provide policy insights for China to accelerate the cultivation and upgrading of new quality productivity.

Key words:  new quality productivity, negative list of market access, market competition effect, systemic cost effect