| Building a "beautiful China" has been a crucial strategic goal of China since the 19 th National Congress of the CPC.China is vigorously promoting the use of clean energy.By the end of 2020,China’s carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP decreased by about 48.4%compared with 2005,exceeding the target of reduction.Forest coverage rate and forest stock keep "double growth" for 30 years continuously,China has become a crucial participant in the construction of global ecological civilization.Meanwhile,innovation maintains the core position in our modernization construction."Innovation is the primary driving force for development." the General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed.At this time,the green innovation of enterprises with the theme of resource protection,pollution reduction,energy efficiency improvement and sustainable development can play a vital supporting role in strengthening the construction of ecological civilization and promoting the high-quality development of Chinese economy.Nonetheless,the green R&D and innovation activities of enterprises are long-term and unstable,and often need a lot of financial support.For the consideration of return rate and stability,financial institutions are more inclined to provide funds to projects with predictable return rate.Therefore,enterprises’ green innovation activities are easily hampered by financing constraints,and SMEs with small scale and lack of mortgaged assets are particularly vulnerable and faced with more serious financing difficulties and financing expensive problems.Financing constraints has become a "roadblock" for SMEs to carry out green R&D and innovation activities.The emergence of digital finance breaks the bound of traditional finance.Digital finance utilizes digital financial services to develop inclusive finance,optimizes the traditional financial ecology with its features of wider coverage,lower transaction costs and higher financing efficiency,and provides a guarantee for financing activities necessary for green innovation.Therefore,based on the above background,it is particularly important to study whether digital finance will affect the green innovation of SMEs.In this thesis,non-financial SMEs in the New Third Board from 2012 to 2020 are taken as the research object,and the annual panel data of enterprises is matched with the Digital Inclusive Finance Index released by Peking University.The model is constructed,the quasinatural experiment is conducted by the method of empirical research,and OLS multiple regression analysis is selected for empirical research.First of all,after summarizing and sorting out the literature on digital finance and enterprise green innovation,the relevant concepts of digital finance and enterprise green innovation are summarized,and by sorting out relevant theories,the internal mechanism of digital finance affecting enterprise green innovation is analyzed according to the existing theories.Secondly,the research hypothesis of this thesis is deduced through theoretical analysis,the definition of main variables is determined by referring to the existing literature,the required control variables are selected according to relevant literature and research practice,and the quasi-natural model is constructed for multiple regression,and the influence of digital finance on the green innovation of SMEs is empirically tested.In addition,a series of robustness tests were conducted to ensure the accuracy of the research results,such as changing variable definition,lagging variable period,using PSM method and instrumental variable method.At the same time,the mediating effect and moderating effect were studied,and further heterogeneity analysis was carried out in different regions,different equity properties and different industries.Finally,based on the theoretical analysis and empirical results,the research conclusions of this thesis are drawn,and according to the conclusions,the relevant policy recommendations are put forward.The results show that:(1)Digital finance can significantly promote SMEs’ green innovation.When the region where SMEs are located has a higher level of digital inclusive finance development,the financial service coverage is larger,the cost is lower,and the efficiency is higher,which makes it easier for SMEs to obtain financial services,greatly improves the financing efficiency of SMEs,alleviates financing constraints,and can raise enough funds for green innovation research and development.Therefore,digital inclusive finance can promote SMEs’ green innovation activities;(2)Financing constraints and corporate leverage are the effective channels for digital finance to promote SMEs’ green innovation,specifically speaking,digital finance can support SMEs’ green innovation by easing financing constraints and reducing financial leverage;(3)Financial flexibility plays a moderating role in the relationship between digital finance and green innovation of SMEs,that is,digital finance has a more significant positive impact on green innovation of SMEs with higher financial flexibility;(4)The positive effect of digital finance on SMEs’ green innovation has heterogeneity at the regional level,property right level and industry level.Specifically,digital finance has a more significant impact on green innovation of SMEs in central or western region of China,non-state-owned SMEs and high-tech SMEs.According to the conclusions,the following policy suggestions are put forward:(1)the government should continue to promote the deep integration of finance and digital,further deepen the role of emerging technologies such as big data,block chain and AI in promoting finance,attach importance to the deeper research of emerging technologies,and capitalize on science and technology to continuously promote the development of digital inclusive finance;(2)Actively guide enterprises to seize the opportunity of the development of digital inclusive finance,lead enterprises to implement green innovation activities,and realize the green development of SMEs;(3)Create a sound environment for SMEs’ green innovation and encourage them to develop a sense of independent innovation;(4)When considering how to formulate policies related to digital financial inclusion and SMEs’ green innovation,the government should consider the differences in property rights,regions and industries of enterprises. |
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