IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v130y2024ics0264999323003711.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unraveling the impact of bank loan spread on corporate innovation: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Shi, Yukun
  • Zhu, Kairan

Abstract

This research explores the innovation dilemmas inherent in large listed companies and state-owned enterprises that are often marred by suboptimal innovation outputs due to a deficiency of intrinsic motivation. It aims to unravel the intricate role of loan spreads as the cardinal influencers of innovation within such entities. Dissecting the nuances of loan spreads the disparity between corporate bank loan rates and the benchmark rate set by the People’s Bank of China reveals that alterations in loan spreads directly influence firms’ inclinations to launch high-risk, high-reward innovative ventures by manipulating investment trajectories through cash flow modifications. The empirical findings corroborate that ascending loan spreads have a stifling effect on innovation, particularly for firms with high debt or financial leverage.

Suggested Citation

  • Shi, Yukun & Zhu, Kairan, 2024. "Unraveling the impact of bank loan spread on corporate innovation: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:130:y:2024:i:c:s0264999323003711
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106559
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999323003711
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106559?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gustavo Manso, 2011. "Motivating Innovation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1823-1860, October.
    2. Gilchrist, Simon & Himmelberg, Charles P., 1995. "Evidence on the role of cash flow for investment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 541-572, December.
    3. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    4. Chen, Zhuo & He, Zhiguo & Liu, Chun, 2020. "The financing of local government in China: Stimulus loan wanes and shadow banking waxes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 42-71.
    5. Bill Francis & Iftekhar Hasan & Ying Huang & Zenu Sharma, 2012. "Do Banks Value Innovation? Evidence from US Firms," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 41(1), pages 159-185, March.
    6. Bronwyn Hall, 2004. "The financing of research and development," Chapters, in: Anthony Bartzokas & Sunil Mani (ed.), Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng (Michael) Song, 2015. "Grasp the Large, Let Go of the Small: The Transformation of the State Sector in China," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 50(1 (Spring), pages 295-366.
    8. Yi Huang & Marco Pagano & Ugo Panizza, 2020. "Local Crowding‐Out in China," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(6), pages 2855-2898, December.
    9. Lily H. Fang & Josh Lerner & Chaopeng Wu, 2017. "Intellectual Property Rights Protection, Ownership, and Innovation: Evidence from China," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(7), pages 2446-2477.
    10. Nemlioglu, Ilayda & Mallick, Sushanta K., 2020. "Do innovation-intensive firms mitigate their valuation uncertainty during bad times?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 913-940.
    11. Guariglia, Alessandra & Liu, Pei, 2014. "To what extent do financing constraints affect Chinese firms' innovation activities?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 223-240.
    12. Lin William Cong & Haoyu Gao & Jacopo Ponticelli & Xiaoguang Yang, 2019. "Credit Allocation Under Economic Stimulus: Evidence from China," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(9), pages 3412-3460.
    13. J. M. Keynes, 1937. "The General Theory of Employment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 51(2), pages 209-223.
    14. Richard Rogerson, 2008. "Structural Transformation and the Deterioration of European Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(2), pages 235-259, April.
    15. Cornaggia, Jess & Mao, Yifei & Tian, Xuan & Wolfe, Brian, 2015. "Does banking competition affect innovation?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 189-209.
    16. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng (Michael) Song, 2015. "Grasp the Large, Let Go of the Small: The Transformation of the State Sector in China," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 46(1 (Spring), pages 295-366.
    17. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2014. "Do Firms Want to Borrow More? Testing Credit Constraints Using a Directed Lending Program," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 572-607.
    18. Philippe Aghion & Jean Tirole, 1994. "The Management of Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 1185-1209.
    19. Boot, Arnoud W A & Thakor, Anjan V, 1997. "Financial System Architecture," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 693-733.
    20. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2009. "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1403-1448.
    21. Sudheer Chava & Dmitry Livdan & Amiyatosh Purnanandam, 2009. "Do Shareholder Rights Affect the Cost of Bank Loans?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(8), pages 2973-3004, August.
    22. Brandt, Loren & Li, Hongbin, 2003. "Bank discrimination in transition economies: ideology, information, or incentives?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 387-413, September.
    23. repec:cup:jfinqa:v:46:y:2011:i:06:p:1545-1580_00 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    25. Menggen Chen & Songyangyang Zhao & Jiawen Wang, 2023. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on Regional Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-34, October.
    26. Cassar, Gavin, 2004. "The financing of business start-ups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 261-283, March.
    27. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    28. Giuseppe Moscarini & Lones Smith, 2001. "The Optimal Level of Experimentation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(6), pages 1629-1644, November.
    29. Nemlioglu, Ilayda & Mallick, Sushanta, 2021. "Effective innovation via better management of firms: The role of leverage in times of crisis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    30. Zwiebel, Jeffrey, 1996. "Dynamic Capital Structure under Managerial Entrenchment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1197-1215, December.
    31. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    32. Sudheer Chava & Vikram Nanda & Steven Chong Xiao, 2017. "Lending to Innovative Firms," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(2), pages 234-289.
    33. Rajan, Raghuram G, 1992. "Insiders and Outsiders: The Choice between Informed and Arm's-Length Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1367-1400, September.
    34. James R. Brown & Steven M. Fazzari & Bruce C. Petersen, 2009. "Financing Innovation and Growth: Cash Flow, External Equity, and the 1990s R&D Boom," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 151-185, February.
    35. Bart M. Lambrecht & Stewart C. Myers, 2007. "A Theory of Takeovers and Disinvestment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 809-845, April.
    36. Merton, Robert C, 1973. "An Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(5), pages 867-887, September.
    37. Steven Drucker & Manju Puri, 2005. "On the Benefits of Concurrent Lending and Underwriting," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2763-2799, December.
    38. Tan, Yongxian & Tian, Xuan & Zhang, Xinde & Zhao, Hailong, 2020. "The real effect of partial privatization on corporate innovation: Evidence from China's split share structure reform," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    39. Allan Eberhart & William Maxwell & Akhtar Siddique, 2008. "A Reexamination of the Tradeoff between the Future Benefit and Riskiness of R&D Increases," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 27-52, March.
    40. Jensen, Richard, 1982. "Adoption and diffusion of an innovation of uncertain profitability," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 182-193, June.
    41. Ayyagari, Meghana & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2011. "Firm Innovation in Emerging Markets: The Role of Finance, Governance, and Competition," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(6), pages 1545-1580, December.
    42. Bu, Maoliang & Qiao, Zhenzi & Liu, Beibei, 2020. "Voluntary environmental regulation and firm innovation in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 10-18.
    43. Shai Bernstein, 2015. "Does Going Public Affect Innovation?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(4), pages 1365-1403, August.
    44. Ciftci, Mustafa & Cready, William M., 2011. "Scale effects of R&D as reflected in earnings and returns," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 62-80, June.
    45. Chava, Sudheer & Oettl, Alexander & Subramanian, Ajay & Subramanian, Krishnamurthy V., 2013. "Banking deregulation and innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 759-774.
    46. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng (Michael) Song, 2015. "Grasp the Large, Let Go of the Small: The Transformation of the State Sector in China," NBER Working Papers 21006, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    47. Guo, Bingnan & Wang, Yu & Zhang, Hao & Liang, Chunyan & Feng, Yu & Hu, Feng, 2023. "Impact of the digital economy on high-quality urban economic development: Evidence from Chinese cities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    48. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-444, June.
    49. Amore, Mario Daniele & Schneider, Cédric & Žaldokas, Alminas, 2013. "Credit supply and corporate innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 835-855.
    50. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    51. Xu, Zhaoxia, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty, cost of capital, and corporate innovation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    52. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    53. Erwan Morellec, 2004. "Can Managerial Discretion Explain Observed Leverage Ratios?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 257-294.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hasan, Iftekhar & (Stan) Hoi, Chun-Keung & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2020. "Is social capital associated with corporate innovation? Evidence from publicly listed firms in the U.S," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Lin William Cong & Sabrina T. Howell, 2021. "Policy Uncertainty and Innovation: Evidence from Initial Public Offering Interventions in China," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 7238-7261, November.
    3. Yi Huang & Marco Pagano & Ugo Panizza, 2020. "Local Crowding‐Out in China," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(6), pages 2855-2898, December.
    4. Tian, Jing & Li, Haiwei & You, Pin, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty, bank loan, and corporate innovation," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Lai, Shaojie & Yang, Laifeng & Wang, Qing & Anderson, Hamish D., 2023. "Judicial independence and corporate innovation: Evidence from the establishment of circuit courts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Langzi Chen & Jian Li & Peter Zander, 2018. "Can Political Connections Maintain the Sustainability of R&D Investment in China? There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    7. Giau Bui, Dien & Chen, Yehning & Lin, Chih-Yung & Lin, Tse-Chun, 2021. "Risk-taking of bank CEOs and corporate innovation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    8. Danlin Shen & Carl R. Chen & Xinyan Yan & Zhihong Yi, 2022. "Do credit market accessibility and legal protection shape corporate innovation?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 719-754, September.
    9. repec:zbw:bofitp:2021_015 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Francesco D'Acunto & Michael Weber & Jin Xie & Michael Weber, 2019. "Punish One, Teach A Hundred: The Sobering Effect of Punishment on the Unpunished," CESifo Working Paper Series 7512, CESifo.
    11. Zhang, Min & Zhang, Yahong, 2022. "Monetary stimulus policy in China: The bank credit channel," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    12. Xiaoming Li & Zheng Liu & Yuchao Peng & Zhiwei Xu, 2020. "Bank Risk-Taking and Monetary Policy Transmission: Evidence from China," Working Paper Series 2020-27, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    13. He, Yuqian & Tang, Song & Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng & Yu, Tao, 2024. "Private equity market development, state ownership, and firm innovation: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 958-985.
    14. Goldman, Jim & Peress, Joel, 2023. "Firm R&D and financial analysis: How do they interact?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    15. Giebel, Marek & Kraft, Kornelius, 2020. "R&D investment under financing constraints," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-018, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Bo Li & Jacopo Ponticelli, 2020. "Going Bankrupt in China," NBER Working Papers 27501, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Saidi, Farzad & Zaldokas, Alminas, 2016. "Patents as Substitutes for Relationships," CEPR Discussion Papers 11580, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Pietro Grandi & Jean Belin & Elisa Darriet & Marianne Guille, 2024. "SMEs, R &D financing, and credit shocks," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 325-347, June.
    19. Tian, Guangning & Zhou, Shuyuan & Hsu, Sara, 2020. "Executive financial literacy and firm innovation in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Farzad Saidi & Alminas Žaldokas, 2021. "How Does Firms’ Innovation Disclosure Affect Their Banking Relationships?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 742-768, February.
    21. Bo Li & Jacopo Ponticelli, 2022. "Going Bankrupt in China [The politics of foreclosures]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(3), pages 449-486.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:130:y:2024:i:c:s0264999323003711. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.