The Impact of Digital Inclusive Finance on Outward Foreign Direct Investment by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises--Empirical Evidence from China's "Specialized, Specialized and New" SMEs

Yixun Zhou

doi:10.54097/cvzmk950

Authors

Yixun Zhou

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/cvzmk950

Keywords:

digital financial inclusion; outward foreign direct investment (OFDI); financing constraints; corporate innovation; total factor productivity.

Abstract

In recent years, China's digital inclusive finance has promoted high-quality economic development by lowering thresholds and other means, but its mechanism of action on OFDI has not been elucidated. This paper empirically examines the impact of digital inclusive finance on OFDI and its path based on the data of China's provincial specialized, special and new small and medium-sized listed companies from 2012 to 2022. It is found that digital inclusive finance significantly promotes firms' OFDI, and this conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests such as substitution variables and propensity score matching. The results of the sub-sample show that digital inclusive finance has a stronger facilitating effect on the eastern region than on the central and western regions, and a stronger promoting effect on non-state-owned enterprises than on state-owned enterprises. The mechanism analysis shows that digital inclusive finance promotes OFDI through three paths: alleviating financing constraints, promoting enterprise innovation and enhancing enterprise total factor productivity. The above results reveal the mechanism by which digital inclusive finance promotes OFDI, and provide theoretical basis and practical instructions for the government to formulate relevant policies and for enterprises to seize the opportunities of digitalization to enhance their international competitiveness.

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