| 谢莉娟,谭学通,严玉珊,张昊.协同优化营商环境与资本跨区域流动[J].数量经济技术经济研究,2025,(10):5-26 | | 协同优化营商环境与资本跨区域流动 | | Co-optimization of Business Environment and the Cross-regional Flow of Capital | | | | DOI： | | 中文关键词: 协同优化营商环境 企业异地投资 资本跨区域流动 全国统一大市场 | | 英文关键词: Co-optimization of the Business Environment Enterprises’ Cross-regional Investment Cross-regional Flow of Capital Unified National Market | | 基金项目: | | | 中文摘要: | | 在各地推动营商环境优化的过程中，若因地区间协同性不足而导致服务效能差异较大，会给企业跨地区经营活动增加不确定性，妨碍资本跨区域流动，不利于全国统一大市场建设。本文基于国内2004~2022年上市公司数据和365个行政区的营商环境政策文本，测度了地区间营商环境优化水平，并通过城市间配对考察营商环境优化协同程度对企业跨地区投资的影响。研究发现，地区间营商环境优化距离拉大会对企业跨地区投资造成不利影响，且主要妨碍企业从营商环境优化水平较高城市流向优化水平较低城市的投资活动，表明各地优化营商环境需重视协同性问题。若一个地区优化营商环境的表现总是相对迟缓，则无法达到降低异地企业投资进入成本和提升引资吸引力的效果，从而产生“慢进亦退”的现象。当地区间营商环境优化具有协同性时，企业异地投资行为具有黏性，原因在于企业能够基于营商环境差异缩小的预期实施长期策略。本文从协同优化营商环境、加快加强落后地区“补短板”的角度，为推动资本要素跨区自由流动、纵深推进全国统一大市场建设提供决策参考。 | | 英文摘要: | | In recent years, various regions in China have launched initiatives to optimize their business environment, making it a crucial tool for attracting investment and promoting local development. However, the inconsistency in the progress of business environment optimization across regions is becoming increasingly prominent, with developed regions focusing on strengthening their advantages and underdeveloped regions struggling to address their shortcomings, making it difficult to achieve parallel progress. If the disparities in the improvement of business environments lead to significant differences in the efficiency of public services, the “slow progress leads to regression” phenomenon may emerge from the changes in the business environment, thereby introducing uncertainty into cross-regional investment and hindering an in-depth advancement of building a unified national market.This study constructs a cross-regional investment indicator covering 365 cities based on data on the establishment of subsidiaries in other regions by listed companies in China from 2004 to 2022. Based on 87943 business environment policy texts issued by local governments, the study measures the frequency of keywords associated with business environment optimization and constructs a set of variables for the degree of coordination in business environment optimization between regions during a specific period. Based on this, the study identifies the impact of inter-regional coordination in optimizing the business environment on enterprises’ cross-regional investment. The study indicates that an increase in the coordination of business environment improvement between cities significantly promotes enterprises’ cross-regional investment. Furthermore, the co-optimization of the business environment exhibits directional asymmetry in its effect on capital flows. It is particularly conducive to attracting investment into cities with relatively lower levels of business environment development and those located in peripheral areas, demonstrating a certain degree of diffusion effect. To address potential endogeneity issues, the study constructs instrumental variables based on differences in local government age and the area within Qing Dynasty city walls and employs a two-stage least squares estimation. The findings remain robust after resolving endogeneity issues.Mechanism analysis indicates that enterprises’ cross-regional investment under conditions of regional co-optimization is a long-term strategy based on expectations of narrowing regional gaps in the business environment. Specifically, reducing disparities in business environment improvement among cities exerts a sticky and persistent effect on cross-regional capital flows. When such co-optimization is anticipated, firms’ increased cross-regional investment becomes a sustainable and strategic choice. Through the integrated development of the business environment, less developed regions can attract more external investment and achieve leapfrog development. This results from the synergy of strengthening advantages in developed regions and addressing shortcomings in underdeveloped areas. To explore the underlying mechanisms, this study examines the transmission channels of reduced market entry barriers through information search costs, financing constraints, and institutional transaction costs. Moreover, it investigates the mechanisms that enhance urban investment appeal via expected market returns, labor force quality, and market vitality. In addition, the number of cross-regional strategic alliances and the number of cross-regional jurisdictions were used as mechanism variables to characterize institutional arrangements that reduce business uncertainty. The findings reveal that co-optimization of the business environment attracts cross-regional investments by reducing entry barriers, enhancing urban investment appeal, and establishing mechanisms that lower investment uncertainty.Heterogeneity analysis reveals that in regions with moderate government intervention and higher levels of human capital, the effect of co-optimization of the business environment is more likely to translate into investment appeal, especially for those with higher ownership concentration or operating in highly competitive industries. Furthermore, co-optimization of the business environment significantly expands the spatial boundaries of cross-regional capital flows.The contributions of this study lie in introducing the asynchronous development of business environment optimization across regions into the analysis of enterprises’ cross-regional investment. By focusing on differences in the level of business environment development between city pairs, the study investigates its asymmetric impact on capital flow direction, thereby offering a more comprehensive understanding of the socioeconomic effects of regional co-optimization of the business environment. This provides novel insights into facilitating capital mobility and advancing the construction of a unified national market. Moreover, the study identifies the reasons why regions with slower improvements in the business environment still struggle to attract external investment. From the perspective of coordinated regional business environment optimization, this study enriches the conceptual framework of enterprises’ cross-regional investment and offers empirical evidence to support stronger cross-regional coordination efforts. Finally, by examining the dynamic adjustment of firms’ cross-regional investment behaviors under co-optimization, the study identifies the boundary conditions for the effectiveness of business environment reforms, proposing policy implications that business environment optimization should strengthen advantages and address shortcomings simultaneously, with an emphasis on accelerating improvements in underdeveloped areas. | | 查看全文 相关附件： 下载数据代码附录 |
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