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Internal financial constraints and firm productivity in China: Do liquidity and export behavior make a difference?

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  • Chen, Minjia
  • Guariglia, Alessandra

Abstract

Financial factors have been found highly important in influencing firms’ real activities and in promoting aggregate growth. Yet, the linkage between finance and firm-level productivity has been overlooked in the literature. We fill this gap using a panel of 130,840 Chinese manufacturing firms over the period 2001–2007 to estimate a TFP model augmented with cash flow. We find that, especially for illiquid foreign and private firms, productivity is strongly constrained by the availability of internal finance. Furthermore, contrary to private firms, foreign non-exporters display higher dependence of productivity on cash flow than exporters.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Minjia & Guariglia, Alessandra, 2013. "Internal financial constraints and firm productivity in China: Do liquidity and export behavior make a difference?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 1123-1140.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:41:y:2013:i:4:p:1123-1140
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2013.05.003
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Productivity; Cash flow; Liquidity; Exports;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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