Data element sharing: Public data openness and enterprise total factor productivity

Public data openness policies create significant development opportunities for diverse social entities, playing a crucial role in advancing digital government construction, stimulating market vitality, and empowering high-quality economic development. Employing an extended Hsieh and Klenow (2009) resource misallocation model, this paper investigates the impact of public data openness on the total factor productivity (TFP) of enterprises. Utilizing panel data from Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies spanning 2010 to 2024, we examine the underlying mechanisms using a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) approach. The results demonstrate that public data openness significantly enhances enterprise TFP. Public data openness can optimize the resource allocation efficiency in the social reproduction process, enhance the innovation efficiency and collaborative innovation capabilities, and thereby contribute to improving enterprise TFP. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the TFP-enhancing effect is more pronounced for small-scale and non-state-owned enterprises, as well as for enterprises located in regions characterized by higher financing constraints, greater marketization, and superior data openness quality. Extended analysis reveals that public data openness has not yet generated significant spatial spillover effects on the TFP of enterprises in neighboring regions, suggesting that the policy effects exhibit pronounced localized characteristics. This study provides empirical evidence and policy insights for further unleashing the value of public data and fostering high-quality enterprise development.