政企关联促进企业“走出去”了吗?——来自中国民营上市公司的证据

Have Political Connections Promoted Enterprises to “Going Global”?——Evidence from Chinese Private Listed Companies

转型经济中,政企关联作为一种非正式制度安排,从诸多方面影响企业的生存和发展。基于2008—2017年中国民营上市公司数据,考察政企关联对企业对外直接投资的影响。结果表明:具有政企关联的企业更倾向于服务国内市场,政企关联总体上不利于企业进行对外直接投资,尤其是当企业面对着较高的外部政治环境不确定性和经济政策不确定性时。进一步研究表明,政企关联能够缓解企业的融资约束,营造较为有利的契约制度环境,从而部分抵消其对企业对外直接投资的抑制效应。因此,应削弱政企关联所带来的资源配置扭曲等负面影响,发挥政企关联的制度优化作用,为企业提供良好的营商环境,更好地促进企业“走出去”。

In a transition economy,political connections,as informal institutions,can affect the survival and development of enterprises in many ways.Using the data of Chinese private listed companies from 2008 to 2017,this paper empirically examines the effects of political connections on outward foreign direct investment of enterprises.The results show that politically connected companies are more inclined towards serving the domestic market,which overall hinders their ability to engage in OFDI,especially when facing high external political and economic policy uncertainty.Further research reveals that political connections not only can ease the financing constraints of enterprises but also can create more favorable contract enforcement environments for enterprises,thus partially offsetting their negative effect on firms OFDI.Therefore,the negative impact of political connections,such as distorted resource allocation,should be weakened.The role of political connections in optimizing the system should be brought into play to provide a good business environment for enterprises,thus better promoting the“going global”of enterprises.