交通基础设施改善与公司资本结构的动态调整——基于高铁开通的经验证据

Transportation Infrastructure Improvement and Dynamic Adjustment of Firm Capital Structure: Empirical Evidence Based on High-speed Railway Coverage

高铁持续开通带来的交通基础设施改善是当今中国社会的典型事实,大量文献研究了高铁开通的经济效应,我们关注的是高铁开通对公司至关重要的资本结构动态调整的影响。研究表明,高铁开通之后,所在城市公司的资本结构调整速度显著提高,并且当资本结构向上偏离目标时,这一影响的经济意义更明显。上述关系在信息环境较差企业、民营企业、货币紧缩年份、交通水平较低和企业数量较少的城市中更为明显。对调整方式的研究发现,对于向下偏离目标的企业,高铁开通使其增加债务融资或减少股权融资,但是后者的调整幅度更大;对于向上偏离目标的公司,高铁开通对其增加股权融资、减少债权融资均有促进作用。此外,周边城市高铁开通对于本地企业资本结构调整速度也具有正向的溢出效应。本文不仅丰富了资本结构动态调整的影响因素文献,而且补充了高铁开通的经济后果研究。

Recently, more literature studies the firm capital structure decision from a dynamic perspective. After reviewing the literature, we propose that the dynamic adjustment of firm capital structure is affected by factors in three aspects: adjustment motivation, adjustment ability and adjustment opportunity. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has been pushing hard the construction of high-speed railway. The literature documents that the opening of high-speed railway plays a positive role in improving corporate governance and business environment. We are concerned about whether the opening of high-speed railway will improve the adjustment of firm capital structure.We propose that, the opening of high-speed railway can affect the speed of capital structure adjustment through increasing adjustment motivation, ability as well as opportunity. Firstly, the opening of high-speed railway can reduce the information asymmetry between investors and firms and strengthen external supervision. It can also promote managerial labor market competition, so as to increase manager adjustment motivation. Secondly, the opening of high-speed railway enhances the learning effect of managers and helps to improve manager adjustment ability by promoting the exchange of talents and the dissemination of knowledge. Finally, the opening of high-speed railway can reduce financing costs and provide more opportunities for capital structure adjustment by improving corporate governance,manager ability and firm value.Using the sample of China’s A-share listed firms from 2003 to 2017, this paper examines the impact of high-speed railway coverage(hereinafter, HSR) on the dynamic adjustment of firm capital structure. The results show that HSR has a positive impact on the speed of capital structure adjustment,and when the capital structure deviates from the target upward, the relationship is more economically significant. Additionally, this relationship is more pronounced for firms with poor information environment, private firms, years with tight monetary policy, and firms located in cities with lower railway passenger volume and less industry companies. As to the way to adjust, for firms that deviate from the target downward, HSR increases their debt financing and reduces equity financing;while for firms that deviate from the target upward, HSR increases their equity financing and reduces their debt financing. Further, the dynamic adjustment of firm capital structure is also affected by HSR in neighboring cities.This paper adds to the literature on both the dynamic adjustment of firm capital structure and the opening of high-speed railway. Capital structure is one of the most important financial decisions of firms and even affects the macro economy. To improve the firm capital structure strategy, we must improve the factor market environment and the efficiency of resource allocation. In addition, infrastructure construction helps to eliminate market segmentation and build a national market. It not only has a positive impact on macroeconomic development, but also has a far-reaching impact on the specific decision-making of firms.