注册制改革会产生溢出效应吗?——基于企业投资行为的视角

提高资本市场资源配置效率是注册制推行的重要目标之一,本文以此为出发点,构建了多期倍分法(DID)模型,探究了科创板(试点注册制)公司信息披露对同行业公司的溢出效应。研究发现,科创板公司信息披露会促使同行业公司提高研发投入,且该效应随着信息披露内容的丰富、精确度的增加而有所提高。机制分析表明,该溢出效应源自信息不确定性的降低和竞争压力的产生。同时,创板信息披露提高了同行业公司管理层对创新的认知程度以及增加了媒体关注度,进而促进公司研发投入。进一步研究发现,同行业公司研发投入受到正向溢出效应影响的同时,固定资产投入有所降低,投资结构的改变最终导致投资效率提升,显著抑制了过度投资。本文为强制性信息披露的溢出效应研究提供了因果证据,也为注册制改革政策效果的全面评估提供了支持。

Spillover Effects of the Registration System Reform from an Investment Perspective

Improving the capital market's resource allocation efficiency and TFP are the key objectives of the registration system reform. It is unknown whether China's registration-based initial public offerings have a significant effect on the efficiency of the capital market and business choices. As a result, we examine this question from the perspective of firm investment.Information disclosure is the foundation of the registration system, and firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Sci-Tech Innovation Board (STAR Market) typically have higher information disclosure standards and richer content, including comprehensive, advanced, and multidimensional industry information, as well as information specific to these high-tech firms. It improves the capital market's information richness, lowers investment uncertainty, and benefits other firms in the same industry in making economic decisions (Edmans et al., 2012, 2015; Badertscher et al., 2013). The STAR Market focuses primarily on scientific and technology innovation firms that are at the forefront of technology in those fields and meet the needs of the government in terms of critical core technologies. As a result, the competitive pressure within the same industry increases and leads to learning through imitation (Lieberman and Asaba, 2006). The aforementioned two factors may lead firms in the same industry to modify their strategies for dealing with potential growth and changes.Based on a firm-year sample from 2017 to 2020, we use a time-varying difference-in-differences framework to explore the spillover effects of information disclosure by STAR Market listed firms on firms in the same industry. We find that the information disclosure of STAR Market listed firms increases the research and development (R&D) expenditure of firms in the same industry, and the effect improves as the content and accuracy of information disclosure increase. The results remain constant when we address endogeneity issues. The mechanism analysis shows that the spillover effects are due to the reduction in information uncertainty and the increase in competitive pressure. Meanwhile, information disclosure by STAR Market firms improves peer managers' awareness of innovation and increased media attention, thereby promoting R&D expenditure.Further analysis indicates that while R&D expenditure is affected by the positive spillover effects of information disclosure, firms tend to reduce their investment in fixed assets and change their investment structure, resulting in improved investment efficiency and reduced over-investment. In conclusion, this paper shows that information disclosure by STAR Market firms improves the investment decisions of peer firms and enhances the efficiency of the capital market.This paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, the externality of accounting information is attracting increasing attention (Roychowdhury et al., 2019). Examining the spillover effects of information disclosure is important for researchers and policy makers. Using the implementation of the STAR Market, this paper provides evidence for the spillover effects of compulsory information disclosure as well as theoretical support and empirical evidence for the comprehensive evaluation of the effects of registration system reform. Second, endogeneity issues are the primary concern in the literature on peer effects. The most effective method to determine the effect of peer firms is to identify an exogenous event that can result in a change in peer firms' information disclosure (Seo, 2021). In this paper, we use the registration system reform that was recently implemented in China as a natural experiment to identify causality. Third, the goal of the registration system reform is to advance the marketization process of factor allocation and boost resource allocation effectiveness. The findings of our study provide a policy effect evaluation and policy implications related to how firm behavior can improve the function of the capital market.