劳动力市场规模与公司资本结构:理论与中国证据

Labor Market Size and Corporate Capital Structure:Theory and Evidence from China

本文考察劳动力市场规模如何影响公司资本结构。理论表明,伴随着劳动力市场规模扩大,财务困境成本的变动方向取决于就业搜寻摩擦下降带来的解雇风险补偿减少和员工主动离职加剧引致的经营成本增加。计量结果显示,劳动力市场规模对公司资本结构存在显著的负向影响,而且两者关系集中于行业内而非行业间,同时上述效应在低融资约束企业和劳动密集型企业更强。特别地,公司财务困境风险显著上升,证实了员工主动离职渠道的主导地位。

This study examines how labor market size(LMS) affects corporate capital structure(CCS). Our conceptual framework illustrates that LMS has an ambiguous impact on financial distress cost due to opposite adjustments of compensating differentials for job loss risk and operating costs reduced by employee-initiated turnover. The empirical results document a significant and negative relationship between LMS and CCS, especially for within-industry rather than cross-industry. Specifically, the effect is stronger in firms with lower financial constraints and higher labor intensity. Further, financial distress risk increases with LMS, confirming the importance of employee-initiated turnover relative to job loss risk.