地方债治理促进了企业创新吗?——来自上市公司的经验证据

Does Local Debt Governance Promote Enterprise Innovation?——Empirical Evidence from Listed Companies

地方债治理是完善我国财政体制的重要实践。本文基于2008—2018上市公司与城市宏微观匹配数据,利用《中华人民共和国预算法(2014年修正)》施行作为外生冲击,构建强度双重差分模型,考察地方债治理对企业创新的影响及作用机制。研究结果表明,地方债治理有效促进企业创新,能够促进企业研发投入增加6.13%,促进企业专利申请数增加3.51%。上述结论经过一系列稳健性检验与安慰剂检验后依然成立。动态效应分析表明,地方债治理的创新激励效应具有持久性。平行趋势检验结果显示,强度双重差分的模型设定是合理的。机制分析结果表明,地方债治理通过降低企业外部融资成本、防止企业经营金融化两条路径对企业创新产生激励作用。

The governance of local debt is an important practice for China to improve the fiscal system.Based on the2008—2018 macro and micro matched data of listed companies and cities,this paper uses the introduction of the new"Budget Law"as an exogenous shock,constructs a difference-in-difference model,and examines the impact of local debt governance on corporate innovation and mechanism.The research has the following findings.Firstly,local debt governance can effectively promote corporate innovation,and the effect is persistent.Secondly,in the mechanism analysis,local debt governance has an incentive effect on enterprise innovation through two paths:reducing the external financing cost of enterprises and preventing the financialization of enterprise operations.Thirdly,In the robustness test,after replacing the explained variables,explanatory variables,and controlling the influence of PPP development,the regression results are still significant.What’s more,the placebo test results confirm that local debt governance can promote the increase in R&D investment and the number of patent applications.According to the research conclusions,this paper suggests that,firstly,in order to prevent local debt risks,and create a good environment for enterprise innovation and regional economic development,the government should establish and improve the local debt issuance system and market.Secondly,efforts should be made to broaden the financing channels of enterprises and remove the institutional barriers that restrict the development of them.Thirdly,we should strengthen the supervision and restriction of the financial market on the local government debt market to prevent and defuse financial risks.Lastly,the government should strengthen supply-side reforms and promote support for enterprise innovation activities through multiple channels.In addition,the practical implication of this paper is to improve the governance of local debt and formulate efficient innovation incentive policies.