银行机构空间扩张抑制了出口产品质量吗？——基于“低质进入”与“金融化挤出”双重视角的检验

Does Bank Spatial Expansion Suppress Export Product Quality? Evidence from Low-Quality Firm Entry and Financialization Crowding-Out

摘要:

在中国持续推进金融机构体系优化与外贸提质增效的双重背景下,如何科学认识银行体系结构变化对出口产品质量的影响,已成为该领域研究的热点和重点问题。 利用中国创新调查企业数据库中企业及银行分支机构地理位置信息,测算企业周边一定半径内银行分支机构数量作为银行机构空间扩张代理指标,从微观层面识别银行机构空间扩张对企业出口产品质量的影响。 研究发现,银行机构空间扩张显著抑制了企业出口产品质量的提升,且该结论在多种稳健性检验下均保持一致。 机制分析表明,银行机构空间扩张通过两条路径抑制企业出口产品质量:一是降低了企业进入门槛,导致生产率较低、质量较差的新进入企业比例上升,从而拉低整体出口质量;二是加剧企业金融化程度,挤占生产性投资,削弱研发投入和技术升级动力,抑制出口产品质量改善。 异质性分析表明,银行机构空间扩张负面作用在中小企业与民营企业中更为明显;股份制银行占比越大银行机构空间扩张对出口产品质量的抑制效应更强,涉农银行占比越大银行机构空间扩张对出口产品质量的抑制效应更弱。 研究结论为优化银行机构空间分布格局、提升金融资源配置效率及推动中国外贸提质增效提供一定的政策启示。

Abstract:

Against the dual background of the continuous optimization of China's financial institution system and the improvement of foreign trade quality and efficiency, the effect of changes in banking structure on export product quality has become a key issue in this field. Enterprise-level data from the China Innovation Survey Database and geographic information on bank branches were used. The number of bank branches within a certain radius around each enterprise is calculated as a proxy for the spatial expansion of banking institutions. The effect of such expansion on firms’ export product quality was identified at the micro level. It is found that the spatial expansion of banking institutions significantly inhibits the improvement of export product quality. The result remains robust after multiple robustness tests. Mechanism analysis indicates that this inhibitory effect is generated through two channels. Firstly, enterprise entry thresholds are lowered. Consequently, the proportion of new entrants with lower productivity and poorer quality is increased, which reduces overall export quality. Secondly, enterprise financialization is intensified. Productive investment is crowded out, and incentives for R&D input and technological upgrading are weakened. As a result, the improvement of export product quality is suppressed. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the negative effect is more pronounced in small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises. A higher share of joint-stock banks strengthens the inhibitory effect, whereas a higher share of agriculture-related banks weakens it. Policy implications are provided for optimizing the spatial distribution of banking institutions, improving the efficiency of financial resource allocation, and promoting the improvement of China's foreign trade quality and efficiency.