经济政策不确定性与企业负财务费用

Economic Policy Uncertainty and Negative Financial Expenses of Enterprises

中文关键词:  经济政策不确定性  负财务费用  信贷可得性  现金流波动性  投资意愿

英文关键词:economic policy uncertainty  negative financial expenses  credit availability  cash flow volatility  investment willingness

中文摘要:

      在全球经济增速放缓的背景下,政府意图通过政策调控来提振经济,但频繁变化的经济政策可能带来不确定性,也可能影响企业的财务策略。基于2007—2022年中国A股上市公司数据,以负财务费用为切入点,实证考察了经济政策不确定性对企业财务策略的影响及其机制。研究发现,经济政策不确定性上升会促使企业采取负财务费用策略并增加负财务费用规模。机制检验表明,经济政策不确定性上升通过降低信贷可得性和提高现金流波动性促使企业采取负财务费用策略并增加负财务费用规模。异质性分析揭示,上述效应在非国有企业和融资约束较高的企业中更大。进一步分析发现,经济政策不确定性上升对负财务费用企业的投资意愿存在抑制作用,意味着这是企业应对经济政策不确定时采取的财务保守行为。因此,政府应保持经济政策的连续性和稳定性,提高经济政策的透明度和可遵循性,让企业形成稳定的投资预期,降低其采取负财务费用策略的动机；金融机构应强化服务实体经济的效能,削弱经济政策不确定性上升对企业融资的负面影响。

英文摘要:

      In the context of slowing global economic growth, the government seeks to stimulate the economy through policy adjustments. However, frequent policy changes may introduce uncertainty, thereby influencing corporate financial strategies. Using data from China's A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2022 and focusing on negative financial expenses, this study empirically investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate financial strategies and its underlying mechanisms.The findings demonstrate that rising economic policy uncertainty prompts firms to adopt negative financial expense strategies and increases the scale of such expenses. Mechanism analysis reveals that rising economic policy uncertainty exerts effects by reducing credit availability and increasing cash flow volatility. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that these effects are more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises and enterprises subject to greater financing constraints. Further analysis suggests that economic policy uncertainty dampens the investment willingness of enterprises with negative financial expenses, reflecting enterprises' conservative financial response to policy uncertainty.Therefore, the government should ensure the stability and continuity of economic policies while enhancing their transparency and followability, thereby enabling enterprises to establish stable investment expectations and diminishing their inclination toward negative financial expense strategies.Financial institutions, meanwhile, should reinforce their ability to serve the real economy and alleviate the adverse effects of rising economic policy uncertainty on corporate financing. 