ESG评级能抑制企业金融化吗？

Can ESG Ratings Inhibit Corporate Financialization?

中文关键词:  ESG评级  金融化  “蓄水池”动机  “投资替代”动机  融资约束  代理成本

英文关键词:ESG rating  corporate financialization  “reservoir” motivation  “investment substitution” motivation  financing constraints  agency cost

中文摘要:

      作为企业可持续发展评价的重要内容,ESG评级能够改善企业融资环境和治理环境,在防范经济“脱实向虚”风险中至关重要。以2010—2020年中国沪深A股上市公司为样本,利用商道融绿首次发布ESG评级的外生冲击,实证考察了ESG评级对企业金融化的影响及作用机制。研究发现,ESG评级对企业金融化具有抑制作用。机制检验显示,ESG评级通过缓解融资约束和降低代理成本分别抑制了“蓄水池”和“投资替代”动机的企业金融化。异质性分析表明,ESG评级对企业金融化的抑制作用显著存在于行业环境敏感性较高、市场竞争较大、分析师关注度较高的情境下。经济后果研究发现,ESG评级对企业金融化的抑制作用能够提高企业主业业绩。因此,政府应该推动构建具有中国特色的ESG评级体系,充分发挥ESG评级的作用,使企业在责任和利益驱动下,优化资产配置,实现企业高质量发展。

英文摘要:

      As an important element of corporate sustainability assessment, ESG ratings can improve the financing circumstances and governance conditions of enterprises and are vital to decreasing the economic shift “from real to virtual”. Taking the A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2010 to 2020 as samples and using the exogenous impact of the first ESG ratings released by SynTao Green Finance, this paper empirically tests the influence and path mechanism of ESG ratings on corporate financialization. It is found that ESG ratings can inhibit corporate financialization, and it restrains financialization driven by “reservoir” motivations through alleviating financing constraints and that resulting from “investment substitution” motivations by reducing agency costs. The inhibition of ESG ratings on corporate financialization is more pronounced in conditions characterized by heightened industry sensitivity, increased market competition, and greater analyst attention and it can also improve the main business performance of enterprises. Therefore, the government should advance the construction of an ESG rating system with Chinese characteristics and give full play to the role of ESG ratings, to enable enterprises to optimize their asset allocation and achieve high-quality development driven by both responsibility and interests. 