| The real economy plays a crucial role in the country’s prosperity and development.China’s real economy has now entered a new era of high-quality pursuit.However,in recent years,more and more real enterprises in China tend to allocate financial assets.The issue of financial "moving away from reality to virtual reality" has become increasingly prominent,and there has been a structural imbalance between the real economy and the virtual economy.Specifically,enterprises focus on capital operation and pursue capital appreciation rather than production profits,which is called enterprise financialization.Under the background of macroeconomic downturn and slowing domestic economic growth,the traditional financial system is characterized by insufficient competition,low efficiency,and credit discrimination against different enterprises,which is bound to exacerbate enterprise financialization,squeeze out funds for production and investment,and hinder the development of the real economy.Digital finance has emerged as the combination of financial services and emerging technologies,which has extended the boundaries of the financial market and pushed economic development into a new era.It can effectively remedy the shortcomings of the traditional financial system and intensify the competition of traditional commercial banks.Will the development of digital finance suppress enterprise financialization by affecting traditional financial institutions? In addition,considering the frequent adjustments of macroeconomic policies by the government in response to the complex external environment,such as the "4 trillion yuan economic stimulus plan," the "Belt and Road" initiative,the "Internet Plus" new business format,and the "Made in China 2025" strategy,the uncertainty of economic policies will present a continuous fluctuating state.Will this interfere with the effectiveness of digital finance in suppressing enterprise financialization?Based on this,in order to explore whether digital finance can suppress enterprise financialization by intensifying competition in the banking industry,this paper selects the financial data of non-financial enterprises listed on the A-share market in China from2011 to 2020 and the panel data of the digital inclusive finance index as research samples to investigate the transmission path of digital finance’s impact on enterprise financialization.In addition,considering that enterprises with different property rights,sizes,and categories may have different effects of digital finance,this paper conducts heterogeneity analysis.The paper further analyzes whether the impact of digital finance on enterprise financialization will be interfered with under the high uncertainty of China’s economic policies.Combining theoretical analysis with empirical results,this paper obtains several research conclusions,including: First,digital finance can suppress enterprise financialization.The second pathway of digital finance’s impact on corporate financialization is through competition in the banking industry,this implies that digital finance can intensify the degree of competition in the banking sector and reduce the level of financialization of firms.Thirdly,digital finance has a greater inhibiting effect on the financialization of non-state enterprises medium and small scale non-high tech enterprises.Fourthly,greater uncertainty in economic policies has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between digital finance and the financialization of firms.The potential innovations of this paper include the following aspects.Firstly,there is a lack of in-depth exploration on the impact of digital finance on corporate financing in existing research,and no consistent conclusion has been reached.This paper proposes whether the development of digital finance can inhibit the financialization of Chinese enterprises,solve the problem of "virtualization" of the economy,and reach a scientific conclusion,enriching the research results related to corporate financing.In addition,this paper verifies the transmission mechanism of digital finance’s impact on corporate financing from a new perspective,that is,digital finance suppresses corporate financing by intensifying competition in the banking industry.Secondly,China is in an economic transformation period and constantly advancing reform and opening.Combined with the adjustment of domestic COVID-19 prevention and control policies,the continuous introduction of new economic policies is bound to increase economic policy uncertainty.Based on China’s current macro background,this paper discusses whether the increase in economic policy uncertainty will have a moderating effect on the effectiveness of digital finance on corporate financing.Thirdly,this paper conducts heterogeneity analysis based on enterprise size,property rights,and whether they are high-tech enterprises. |
