| The financial sector is the lifeline of the real economy,and serving the real economy is the vocation and purpose of the financial sector.In recent years,the financial industry in China has developed rapidly,and the scale of the financial industry has continued to grow and develop.Financial resources have begun to transcend geographical boundaries and flow freely between regions,and there is also a trend towards concentration in a particular area,creating the phenomenon of financial agglomeration and providing a high level of financial services to enterprises in the region.The investment efficiency of firms is an important factor for their own development,but due to information asymmetry and principal-agent problems in the investment process,firms are often constrained by financial limitations,making it difficult for them to achieve the goal of maximising investment efficiency.The financial market is an important channel for firms to raise external funds.The financial market is an important channel for firms to raise external funds.In areas with financial agglomeration,the financial market has formed a more complete system and has many financial resources at its disposal,so it is worth exploring and analysing further whether financial agglomeration can alleviate firms’ financial constraints and improve their investment efficiency.Based on the review and synthesis of relevant literature,the period of 2011-2019 was selected as the research sample.This study uses the Richardson investment cost model,which indirectly reflects the investment efficiency of enterprises,to measure the inefficient investment index of enterprises,and builds an index system to measure the degree of financial agglomeration in 30 provinces in China(cities and autonomous regions),and investigates the impact of financial agglomeration on corporate investment efficiency.At the same time,panel regression by ownership type is carried out to investigate whether the impact of financial agglomeration on corporate investment efficiency differs by ownership type,taking into account the phenomenon of “ownership discrimination” in the Chinese financial market.As a result of the empirical investigation,we draw the following conclusions:(1)Financial agglomeration can significantly reduce inefficient investment behavior of firms,especially by effectively addressing the problem of underinvestment of firms to improve investment efficiency;(2)Financial constraints play a mediating role in the process of promoting financial agglomeration to improve the efficiency of firm investment;(3)Financial agglomeration plays a more significant role in improving the investment efficiency of non-state-owned firms compared to state-owned firms.In summary,this paper proposes the following policy recommendations:(1)Accelerate the development of financial agglomeration and raise the level of financial agglomeration;(2)Enterprises should improve their information disclosure systems and expand their financial channels;(3)Promote financial market reform and establish a sound financial market system. |
