金融错配、非金融企业影子银行化与经济“脱实向虚”

当前,我国一些非金融企业通过直接或间接的方式从事影子银行业务。本文利用2004-2015年上市公司数据研究发现,金融错配程度的提高整体上会提高企业影子银行化规模,并且这种效应仅在金融深化程度较高、经济资源市场化配置程度偏低的地区显著;僵尸企业和盈利性较差的企业,分别受到“利润追逐”和“投资替代”机制的影响,金融错配对其影子银行化趋势的正向作用更为明显。机制检验发现,金融错配水平的上升通过提高融资约束程度从而降低企业实体投资水平,这种效应在资产专用性较强的企业中更为明显;金融错配主要通过融资约束程度和实体投资规模,而非资本回报率渠道作用于企业影子银行化行为。本文研究对于提高信贷资源配置效率,防范经济“脱实向虚”具有较强的政策意义。

Financial Mismatch,the Shadow Banking Activities of Non-Financial Enterprises and Funds Being Diverted Out of the Real Economy

At present, attracted by the higher returns in the financial industry, China's industrial sector is engaging more shadow banking activities. Material production, employment absorption and technological innovation are drivers of economic growth. Therefore, funds being diverted out of the real economy inevitably reduces investments in research and development, which is not conducive to the stability of China's financial market and the real economy.The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stressed that “deepen institutional reform in the financial sector, make it better serve the real economy” and “improve the financial regulatory system to forestall systemic financial risks” .Therefore, identifying the macroeconomic aspects of shadow banking by non-financial enterprises is of great theoretical and practical significance for serving the real economy. Understanding these factors will help to prevent funds being diverted out of the real economy and promote the long-term and stable development of the economy.We analyze the impact of financial mismatch on shadow banking by non-financial enterprises from a theoretical perspective and consider the possibility of heterogeneous effects in different regions and for different companies. Next, we analyze the mechanism behind the effect of financial mismatch on shadow banking. Finally, we construct an empirical model and use data on non-financial listed companies from 2004 to 2015 to test the relationship between financial mismatch and non-financial enterprises' shadow banking behavior.We make three contributions to the literature. First, this article is the first to explain the increasing trend of non-financial firms' use of shadow banking and the decline in the entity investment rate from the perspective of financial mismatch. Second, we investigate the impact of financial mismatch on shadow banking and allow for heterogeneity at the regional and enterprise levels. Allowing for heterogeneity has important theoretical significance for deepening and extending our conclusions. Third, we use the intermediary effect model to analyze the mechanism behind the impact of financial mismatch on the extent of a firm's use of shadow banking, supplementing theoretical understanding of the macroeconomic impact of shadow banking activities.Our conclusions show that increasing the level of financial mismatch generally promotes the scale of shadow banking by non-financial enterprises, but that this effect is only significant in regions with greater financial deepening and fewer market-driven financial activities. Zombie companies and less profitable companies are affected by the “profit chase” and “investment substitution” mechanisms. The increase in the level of financial mismatch plays a stronger role in promoting enterprises' use of shadow banking. A second conclusion is that an increase in financial mismatch depresses productive investments; this effect is more significant for enterprises with higher capital specificity. Third, the results of the intermediary effect model show that financial mismatch mainly affects corporate investment behavior through financing constraints rather than through the channel of the return on capital. Financial mismatch also increases the scale of a firm's shadow banking by reducing the scale of its corporate entity investment.We show that financial mismatch is the root cause of the shadow banking of non-financial enterprises, industry hollowing and systematic risk accumulation. Financial mismatch reduces real investments and drives funds being diverted out of the real economy, which is not conducive to the long-term and sustainable development of the economy. To suppress the over-development of the shadow credit market and make financial sector better serve the real economy, it is important to improve the allocation efficiency of financial resources between different economic entities, alleviate credit discrimination by financial intermediaries and accelerate the development of capital markets.