Open Access Journal Article

Has the development of the digital economy increased corporate financial asset holdings? --A quasi-natural experiment based on the "Broadband China" policy

by Xiuhai Huang a  and  Zhenyu Xu a,* orcid
a
School of Data Sciences, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
JES  2024, 17; 2(1), 17; https://doi.org/10.58567/jes02010002
Received: 25 October 2023 / Accepted: 10 January 2024 / Published Online: 15 January 2024
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Abstract

A differences-in-differences (DID) model and financial data from Chinese listed firms from 2011 to 2019 are used to empirically investigate the effects of the digital economy on corporate financial asset holdings using the "Broadband China" policy as a quasi-natural experiment. After robustness testing and heterogeneity effects are disposed of, the digital economy dramatically boosts corporate financial asset holdings. According to the channel analysis, the digital economy can reduce corporate financing constraints and boost corporate financial asset holdings, notably based on speculative demand. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the digital economy has a greater impact on corporate financial asset holdings for firms with higher market competition, small-scale firms with a short-listed age, and firms in the western region. This paper provides policy guidance for enterprises returning to the real economy.

Keywords: Digital economy; Corporate financial asset holdings; "Broadband China" policy; Differences-in-differences model; Shifting the economy from a tangible to an intangible state;
Copyright: © 2024 by Huang and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Funding

National Social Sciences Foundation of China (21BTJ032)

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ACS Style
Huang, X.; Xu, Z. Has the development of the digital economy increased corporate financial asset holdings? --A quasi-natural experiment based on the "Broadband China" policy. Journal of Economic Statistics, 2024, 2, 17. https://doi.org/10.58567/jes02010002
AMA Style
Huang X, Xu Z. Has the development of the digital economy increased corporate financial asset holdings? --A quasi-natural experiment based on the "Broadband China" policy. Journal of Economic Statistics; 2024, 2(1):17. https://doi.org/10.58567/jes02010002
Chicago/Turabian Style
Huang, Xiuhai; Xu, Zhenyu 2024. "Has the development of the digital economy increased corporate financial asset holdings? --A quasi-natural experiment based on the "Broadband China" policy" Journal of Economic Statistics 2, no.1:17. https://doi.org/10.58567/jes02010002
APA style
Huang, X., & Xu, Z. (2024). Has the development of the digital economy increased corporate financial asset holdings? --A quasi-natural experiment based on the "Broadband China" policy. Journal of Economic Statistics, 2(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.58567/jes02010002

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