Credit Environment and Total Factor Productivity of Enterprises: Evidence from A-share Listed Companies

Abstract

Abstract: Enhancing total factor productivity of enterprises is one of the key pathways to drive high-quality development. This paper takes Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2021 as the research samples and employs the City Commercial Credit Environment Index (CEI) to measure the credit environment at the city level. It investigates the impact of improvement in the credit environment on total factor productivity of enterprises as well as the underlying mechanisms. The research findings indicate that improvement in the credit environment significantly boost total factor productivity of enterprises and this conclusion remains robust after a series of rigorous robustness tests. The mechanism analysis shows that enhancement in the credit environment promotes the improvement of total factor productivity of enterprises through four paths: alleviating financing constraints, reducing transaction costs, mitigating agency problems, and promoting innovation and research and development. Considering the heterogeneity of enterprises and regions, this paper focuses on the individual characteristics of enterprise property rights, scale, life cycle, and information disclosure quality, as well as the role of city scale in promoting total factor productivity through improvement in the credit environment. This paper provides a new perspective for understanding the relationship between the credit environment and enterprise development, and offers empirical evidence for enhancing total factor productivity to promote high-quality development.

Key words: Credit Environment, Total Factor Productivity of Enterprise, Financing Constraints, Innovative Research and Development

摘要： 提升企业全要素生产率是驱动高质量发展的重要途径之一,本文以2010—2021年中国A股上市公司为研究样本,用城市商业信用环境指数(CEI)测度城市层面的信用环境,考察信用环境的改善对企业全要素生产率的影响以及其中的作用路径。研究结果表明,信用环境的改善显著提高了企业全要素生产率,结论在经历了一系列稳健性检验后依然成立。机制分析表明,信用环境的改善通过缓解企业的融资约束、交易成本和代理问题以及促进企业创新研发这四条路径促进企业全要素生产率的提升。考虑到企业和地区的异质性,本文重点考察了企业性质、规模、生命周期和信息披露质量的企业个体特征以及城市规模在其中发挥的作用。本文为理解信用环境与企业发展的关系提供了新的视角,为提升企业全要素生产率促进高质量发展提供了经验证据。

关键词: 信用环境, 企业全要素生产率, 融资约束, 创新研发

CLC Number:

F275.5

ZHANG Longyao, HUANG Yudong, LI Yuan, ZHAO Jiaxin. Credit Environment and Total Factor Productivity of Enterprises: Evidence from A-share Listed Companies[J]. Collected Essays on Finance and Economics, 2025, 41(12): 89-99.

张龙耀, 黄宇东, 李渊, 赵佳鑫. 信用环境与企业全要素生产率——来自A股上市公司的证据[J]. 财经论丛, 2025, 41(12): 89-99.

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