经济政策不确定性对企业金融化的影响研究

Based on the annual data of Chinese A-share listed non-financial companies from 2007 to 2019, this paper studies the effects of economic policy uncertainty on the financialization behavior of enterprises and the possible influencing mechanism. It is found that economic policy uncertainty is significantly positively correlated with the level of financialization of enterprises. The higher the economic policy uncertainty, the higher the proportion of financial assets in total assets. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the economic policy uncertainty significantly promotes the increase of the financialization level of non-state-owned enterprises and small-scale enterprises, but has no obvious effect on the financialization level of state-owned enterprises and large-scale enterprises. The subsequent mechanism test finds that the yield spread and operational risk are the mediating channels of the impact of economic policy uncertainty on financialization. The increase of economic policy uncertainty leads to the narrowing of the yield gap of enterprises. Under the influence of profit-seeking motivation, enterprises reduce the willingness to invest in industries, increase the inclination to invest in financial assets, and deepen the degree of financialization. The rising uncertainty of economic policy also leads to the increase of business risks, which makes enterprises increase their holdings of financial assets based on precautionary motives to deal with liquidity risks. Based on the research conclusions, this paper further puts forward some policy suggestions, such as improving the benefits of real economy, restraining financial bubbles, maintaining the stability of policy environment, and easing the financing constraints of enterprises.