1.School of Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China 2.Institute of China’s Economic Reform & Development, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
Abstract：The modern financial system embodies fundamental institutional arrangements to promote sustainable improvement of enterprises’ self-innovation capacities. Whether the current bank-directed financial system can effectively generate continuous improvement of enterprises’ technological innovation capabilities is a research question of significant theoretical and policy value in the Chinese context. On the one hand, China is fully entering a stage of high-quality innovation-driven development. “To uphold the central role of innovation in its modernization drive and take self-reliance in science and technology as the strategic underpinning for national development” has become a core goal of China’s economic restructuring and national sustainable development strategy. The basis of these strategies is to fully implement the sustainable improvement of enterprises’ technological innovation capabilities. On the other hand, to advance the structural reform of the financial supply side and build up a modern financial system that can help achieve high-quality development of the real economy, especially to accelerate the construction of a modern financial system that can effectively support the sustainable improvement of enterprises’ technological innovation capabilities, is also one of the most urgent institutional reform tasks in China. In fact, China’s financial system reform has been adhering to the overall reform idea of building a banking institution system with a reasonable division of labor among large, medium and small enterprises, among which the development of small and medium-sized banking institutions has been identified as one of the key objects of China’s financial system reform. However, whether China’s existing small banking system can effectively support the innovation and R&D activities of micro-enterprises is a major unproven problem, which is not only a key issue related to the reform of China’s financial system, but also a core component of building up a financial development theory with Chinese characteristics. Therefore, from the perspective of the heterogeneity of the banking system in developing countries, this article aims at re-examining the possible impact of the indirect financial system directed by banking institutions on micro-enterprise innovation.Based on an analysis of the unique large sample of enterprise data in China, findings of this empirical study indicate. (1) It certifies the theoretical hypothesis that “smaller banks are conducive to enterprise innovation”, that is, urban and rural commercial banks in China have a significant promoting effect on enterprise innovation activities. (2) It also verifies the theoretical hypothesis that “bank competition plays a stronger role in pushing smaller banks to effectively support enterprise innovation”. The increase in the level of bank competition caused by the flexible control policy for small and medium-sized banks to set up branches in different places in China is the key mechanism that brings about the promotion effect of urban and rural commercial banks on enterprise innovation activities. However, such promotion effect may mainly come from the adjustment of the loan term structure of banking institutions under the pressure of competition. The enhancement and intensification of bank competition urges urban and rural commercial banks in China to adopt medium and long term loans, so as to better meet the external financing needs generated by micro-enterprise innovation activities. These empirical evidences enrich the multilevel objective understanding of the internal mechanism of positive incentive effect of bank-led financial system on innovation.
1 Hsu P. H.， Xuan T. & Yan X.， “Financial development and innovation： cross-country evidence，” Journal of Financial Economics， Vol. 112， No. 1 （2014）， pp. 116-135. 2 Petersen M. A. & Rajan R. G.， “The effect of credit market competition on lending relationships，” Quarterly Journal of Economics， Vol. 110， No. 2 （1995）， pp. 407-443. 3 Rajan R. G. & Zingales L.， “Financial systems， industrial structure， and growth，” Oxford Review of Economic Policy， Vol. 17， No. 4 （2001）， pp. 467-482. 4 Berger A. N. & Udell G. F.， “Small business credit availability and relationship lending： the importance of bank organisational structure，” The Economic Journal， Vol. 112 （2002）， pp. 32-53. 5 徐忠、邹传伟： 《硬信息和软信息框架下银行内部贷款审批权分配和激励机制设计——对中小企业融资问题的启示》，《金融研究》2010年第8期，第1-15页。 6 Stein J. C.， “Information production and capital allocation： decentralized versus hierarchical firms，” Journal of Finance， Vol. 57， No. 5 （2002）， pp. 1891-1921. 7 张捷： 《中小企业的关系型借贷与银行组织结构》，《经济研究》2002年第6期，第32-37页。 8 Berger A. N.， Miller N. H. & Petersen M. A. et al.， “Does function follow organizational form？ evidence from the lending practices of large and small banks，” Journal of Financial Economics， Vol. 76， No. 2 （2001）， pp. 237-269. 9 Berger A. N. & Udell G. F.， “A more complete conceptual framework for SME finance，” Journal of Banking and Finance， Vol. 30， No. 11 （2006）， pp. 2945-2966. 10 Berger P. G. ， Minnis M. & Sutherland A.， “There is more to a bank than its size： bank expertise and financial information collection，” SSRN Electronic Journal， Vol. 47， No. 23 （2015）， pp. 11351-11360. 11 Strahan P. E.， “Are concentrated banks better informed than diversified ones？” Journal of Accounting and Economics， Vol. 64， No. 2 （2017）， pp. 78-283. 12 林毅夫、李永军： 《中小金融机构发展与中小企业融资》，《经济研究》2001年第1期，第10-18页。 13 Degryse H. & Ongena S.， “The impact of competition on bank orientation，” Journal of Financial Intermediation， Vol. 16， No. 3 （2007）， pp. 399-424. 14 Agarwal S. & Hauswald R.， “Distance and private information in lending，” The Review of Financial Studies， Vol. 23， No. 7 （2010）， pp. 2757-2788. 15 张烁珣、独旭： 《银行可得性与企业融资：机制与异质性分析》，《管理评论》2019年第5 期，第3-17页。 16 Loutskina E. & Strahan P. E.， “Informed and uninformed investment in housing： the downside of diversification，” Review of Financial Studies， Vol. 24， No. 5 （2011）， pp. 1447-1480. 17 Berger A. N.， Demsetz R. S. & Strahan P. E.， “The consolidation of the financial services industry：causes， consequences， and implications for the future，” Journal of Banking and Finance ， Vol. 23， No. 2-4 （1999）， pp. 135-194. 18 樊钢、王小鲁、朱恒鹏： 《中国市场化指数——各地区市场化相对进程2011年报告》，北京：经济科学出版社，2012年。 19 Myers S. C.， “Determinants of corporate borrowing，” Journal of Financial Economics， Vol. 5， No. 2（1977），pp. 147-175. 20 Wakasugi R. A & Koyata F.， “R&D， firm size and innovation outputs： are Japanese firms efficient in product development？” Journal of Product Innovation Management， Vol. 14， No. 5 （1997）， pp. 383-392. 21 Shefer D. & Frenkel A.，“R&D， firm size and innovation： an empirical analysis，” Technovation， Vol. 25， No. 1 （2005）， pp. 25-32. 22 龙小宁、王俊： 《中国专利激增的动因及其质量效应》，《世界经济》2015年第6期，第115-142页。 23 张杰、高德步、夏胤磊： 《专利能否促进中国经济增长——基于中国专利资助政策视角的一个解释》，《中国工业经济》2016年第1期，第83-98页。 24 Chen Z.， Zhang J. & Yuan Z.， “A cost-benefit analysis of R&D and patents： firm-level evidence from China，” https：//doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2020.103633， 2021-12-10. 25 安同良、周绍东、皮建才： 《R&D补贴对中国企业自主创新的激励效应》，《经济研究》2009年第10期，第87-98页。 26 Robinson J.， The Rate of Interest， and Other Essays， London： Macmillan， 1952.
2023, Vol. 53 
