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Does government debt impede firm innovation? Evidence from the rise of LGFVs in China

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  • Fan, Jianyong
  • Liu, Yu
  • Zhang, Qi
  • Zhao, Peng

Abstract

Does government debt impede firm innovation? We address this question by examining the effects of the debt accumulated by local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) across Chinese prefectures between 2006 and 2012 on industrial firms’ R&D spending and patents. We find that government debt reduces firms’ R&D expenditures and lowers firms’ number of new patents. One plausible explanation is that government debt raises firms’ capital costs, which limits innovation activities. Consistently, we find that the innovations of firms that are more likely to be financially constrained – small firms and firms with low cash flow – are more affected by the expansion of government debt. Our results imply that although government deficit spending may stimulate the economy in the short run, it could have negative repercussions for economic productivity in the longer run.

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  • Fan, Jianyong & Liu, Yu & Zhang, Qi & Zhao, Peng, 2022. "Does government debt impede firm innovation? Evidence from the rise of LGFVs in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:138:y:2022:i:c:s0378426622000759
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2022.106475
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    Cited by:

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    3. Hai Xie & Weikun Zhang & Hanyuan Liang, 2023. "Can Local Government Debt Decrease the Pollution Emission of Enterprises?—Evidence from China’s Industrial Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-20, June.
    4. Zhao, Liange & Wang, Dongmei & Wang, Xueyuan & Zhang, Zhijian, 2023. "Impact of green finance on total factor productivity of heavily polluting enterprises: Evidence from green finance reform and innovation pilot zone," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 765-785.
    5. Liu, Qiongzhi & Bai, Yun & Song, Hexin, 2023. "The crowding out effect of government debt on corporate financing: Firm-level evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 264-272.
    6. Haiyun Ma & Deshuai Hou, 2023. "Local Government Debt and Corporate Maturity Mismatch between Investment and Financing: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Government debt; Innovation; Productivity; Capital cost; Access to finance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • H74 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Borrowing

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