企业绿色创新与债券融资成本

Enterprise Green Innovation and Bond Financing Costs

金融市场在企业融资过程中扮演着重要的角色,而出色的绿色创新也能得到金融市场的认可。关于绿色创新与金融市场的实证研究尚不多见,且鲜有研究关注债券市场这一重要金融基础设施中利益相关者对绿色创新行为的态度。作为支持经济绿色化转型的重要制度安排,债券市场能否运用价格信号引导资金流向优势绿色创新企业,债券市场投资者能否对企业开展的绿色创新活动进行合理评估和定价,都是值得深入探讨的问题。从债券发行角度,实证检验企业绿色创新对债券融资成本的影响,借以探讨绿色创新能否被债券市场合理定价,从债项评级和产品市场竞争能力两个维度提出中介机制,并进行多视角下的异质性分析。利用2007年至2020年中国上市企业债券发行的数据,以信用利差表示债券融资成本,以绿色专利申请数量和绿色专利获得数量测量企业绿色创新,构建多元回归模型,并通过一系列稳健性检验,保证结果稳健性。研究结果表明,绿色创新显著降低企业债券融资成本,可能的作用机制在于,在债券信用评级市场,企业绿色创新提高信用评级机构对于债券的信用评级,进而降低债券融资成本;在企业产品市场,绿色创新提高产品市场竞争能力,进而降低债券融资成本。进一步分析表明,与绿色实用新型专利相比,绿色发明专利具有更强的降低债券融资成本的效应;策略性绿色专利行为越多,债券融资成本越高。异质性分析结果表明,与属于低污染行业、成熟期、融资约束较小和国有性质的上市企业相比,属于高污染行业、非成熟期、融资约束较大和非国有性质的上市企业,开展绿色创新具有更强的降低债券融资成本的效应。通过考察绿色创新对企业债券融资成本的影响,丰富了绿色创新经济后果的研究,对绿色创新经济后果领域的完善做出了一定的贡献;拓展了债券融资成本方面的研究,从企业绿色创新视角对债券融资成本的影响因素进行了补充;印证了在当前中国资本市场中,企业树立绿色环保理念、探索绿色创新之路的重要性,以及构建功能健全、目的具体、保障全面的绿色创新机制的迫切性。

The financial market plays an important role in the process of corporate financing, and remarkable green innovation can be recognized by the financial market. There are few empirical studies on green innovation and financial markets, and few literatures focus on the attitude of stakeholders in the bond market, an important financial infrastructure, towards green innovation behavior. Whether the bond market can use price signals to guide capital flow into advantageous green innovative companies, and whether bond market investors can reasonably evaluate and price green innovation activities are issues worthy of indepth discussions.From the perspective of bond issuance, this study empirically tests the impact of corporate green innovation on bond financing costs to explore whether green innovation can be reasonably priced by the bond market. We then propose possible mediating mechanisms from “debt rating” in the credit market and “competitiveness” in the product market, as well as heterogeneity analysis from multiple perspectives. Using the data of Chinese listed corporate bond issuance from 2007 to 2020, this study measures the cost of bond financing by credit spreads, measures the green innovation by green innovation patent applications and acquisitions, constructs a multiple regression model, and conducts a series of robustness tests to ensure the robustness of the conclusions.This study finds that green innovation significantly reduces the cost of corporate bond financing. The possible mechanism is that, in the credit market, green innovation improves the credit rating of bonds by credit rating agencies, thereby reducing the cost of bond financing. And in the product market, green innovation improves the product market competitiveness, thereby reducing the cost of bond financing. Further analysis shows that, compared with green practical new-type patents, green invention patents have a stronger bond financing cost reduction effect;the more strategic green patent behaviors, the higher the bond financing cost;there is a U-shaped relationship between green innovation and bond financing costs. Heterogeneity analysis shows that, compared with companies belonging to low-pollution industries, mature stages, less financing constraints, and listed state-owned enterprises, companies that belonged to high-pollution industries, immature stages, larger financing constraints,and listed non-state-owned enterprises have a stronger effect of reducing the cost of green innovation bond financing.By examining the impact of green innovation on the financing cost of corporate bonds, the literature on the economic consequences of green innovation has been enriched, and a certain contribution has been made to the influencing factors of bond financing costs. The study of bond financing cost is expanded and the influencing factors of bond financing cost are supplemented from the perspective of corporate green innovation. It confirms the importance of establishing green environmental protection concepts and exploring the path of green innovation in the current capital market, and the urgency of building a green innovation mechanism with sound functions, specific purposes and comprehensive guarantees.