产权保护、政治关联与民营企业创新——基于《物权法》出台的研究

Property rights protection,political connections,and innovation of private enterprises:a study based on the introduction of Property Law

产权保护是市场经济运行的基础,《物权法》的出台标志着中国从正式制度上为企业提供了产权保护。基于《物权法》出台这一外生冲击,考察了其对民营企业创新的影响。基于理论模型的推导发现,相比于政治关联提供的非正式制度的产权保护,正式制度的出台有利于促进民营企业创新。使用2000—2018年民营上市企业数据进行了DID分析和一系列稳健性检验、动态检验,结果均支持上述结论,即《物权法》出台后,有形资产占比越高的民营企业其创新产出越多。使用企业专利引用的数据作为创新质量的衡量指标,发现《物权法》的出台也显著改善了民营企业的创新质量。机制检验发现,《物权法》的出台强化了对民营企业产权的保护,有利于民营企业的外部融资,改善了企业面临的融资约束,进而促进了民营企业创新。异质性分析发现:《物权法》出台对东中部地区民营企业创新的作用更加显著,但对东北和西部地区则不显著;另外分规模后对小微民营企业创新的作用更加显著。研究不仅为产权保护的重要作用提供了微观层面的经验证据,同时也深化了对正式制度和非正式制度之间关系的理解。

The protection of property rights is the basis of the operation of the market economy.The promulgation of the Property Law indicates that China has provided the protection of property rights for enterprises through a formal system.This paper investigates the exogenous impact of the introduction of the Property Law on enterprise innovation.Based on the derivation of a theoretical model,this paper finds that,compared with the informal institutional property rights protection provided by political association,formal institutional property rights protection is conducive to enterprise innovation.Using the data on listed companies from 2000 to 2018,this paper conducts DID and a series of robustness tests and dynamic tests.The results all support the above conclusion—that is,after the promulgation of the Property Law,the higher the proportion of tangible assets,the more innovative the company’s output.Using the data cited by enterprise patents as the measurement index of innovation quality,this paper finds that the promulgation of the Property Law also significantly improves the innovation quality of enterprises.The mechanism inspection finds that the promulgation of the Property Law strengthens the protection of the property rights of private enterprises,facilitates the external financing of private enterprises,improves the financing constraints faced by enterprises,and promotes the innovation of private enterprises.The heterogeneity analysis finds that the introduction of the Property Law has a more significant effect on the innovation of private enterprises in the eastern and central regions and a non-significant effect in the northeast and western regions.The effect on the innovation of small and micro private enterprises is more significant by scale.This study not only provides empirical evidence at the micro level for the important role of property rights protection but also deepens the understanding of the relationship between formal and informal institutions.