地区腐败与企业运营效率——基于交易成本视角的实证检验

Regional Corruption and Firm Efficiency——An Empirical Study Based on Transaction Cost

政商生态环境是影响企业资源配置及运营效率的重要因素。本文将宏观制度环境与微观企业行为有机结合,从交易成本视角考察了地区腐败环境对企业运营效率的影响效应。基于2003-2012年A股上市公司数据的实证检验表明,腐败破坏了市场交易机制,导致更高的交易成本与代理冲突,进而损害企业运营效率。进一步采用十八大后高强度反腐败这一独特事件开展双重差分检验,实证结论依然成立。还发现,与国有企业相比,地区腐败对民营企业效率损失的影响强度更大;相较于政治关联民营企业,无政治关联民营企业运营效率更容易受到腐败环境破坏。市场化改革则有利于缓解腐败环境对企业运营效率的负面影响。本文立足于中国的制度与文化背景,拓展了对腐败经济后果的理论认知,深化了对企业运营效率影响因素的理解。总体而言,打击腐败、净化政商关系是优化企业资源配置、提升企业运营效率的制度基础。

Political ecological environment is an important factor that affects resource allocation and operational efficiency of enterprise. In this paper, we combine the macro-institutional environ-ment and the behavior of micro-enterprise, and present evidence on the relation between local cor-ruption and the corporate efficiency from the perspective of agency cost. Based on the data from lis-ted companies in China from 2003 to 2012, we find that bureaucratic corruption undermines the market trading mechanism, leading to higher transaction costs and agency conflicts, and thus harms firm efficiency. Specifically, the DID test based on anti-corruption campaign also supports our em-pirical results. We also find that, compared with state-owned enterprises, regional corruption has a greater impact on the efficiency loss of private enterprises. Compared with the political connection of private enterprises, the operation efficiency of private enterprises without political connections is more likely to be damaged by corrupt environment. Market-oriented reform is conducive to allevia-ting the negative impact of corruption environment on the operation efficiency of enterprises. Based on China＇s institutional and cultural background, this paper expands the theoretical cognition of the economic consequences of corruption from the micro level, and also deepens the understanding of the factors affecting the efficiency of business operation from the institutional level. Combating cor-ruption and pursing the relationship between government and business is the institutional foundation for optimizing the allocation of resources and improving the operational efficiency of enterprises.