Cultural Identity, Financial Development, and Higher Education Innovation

This study examines how regional cultural identity affects higher education innovation and how fiscal and financial conditions shape this relationship. Using Chinese provincial panel data from 2009 to 2023 and province and year fixed effects, we find that stronger cultural identity is associated with greater university invention patent applications. Education fiscal support and financial development further strengthen this relationship. Mechanism analysis suggests that cultural identity promotes innovation through enhanced social cooperation, knowledge diffusion, and technology transfer capacity. The findings highlight the complementarity between informal institutions and formal fiscal and financial conditions in fostering higher education innovation.