Does Public Data Accessibility Influence the Geographic Distance of Cross-Regional Capital Flows:Evidence from Inter-Regional M&As
As a key form of domestic capital circulation,inter-regional capital flows play a crucial role in optimizing resource allocation,achieving market integration,and promoting coordinated regional economic development.In the face of new challenges to capital market integration,how to help firms overcome barriers to inter-regional investment and facilitate the efficient allocation of capital has become a focal issue.Within the framework of government digital transformation,examining how to harness public data resources to guide and empower cross-regional capital flows is of significant theoretical and practical importance.Using the launch of public data platforms by local governments as a quasi-natural experiment,this paper explores the enabling effect of public data accessibility on cross-regional capital flows.This paper finds that improved public data accessibility in the city where target firms are located significantly expands the geographic range of capital flows,as evidenced by increased distances between the parties involved in inter-regional mergers and acquisitions(M&As).The mechanism analysis reveals that public data accessibility significantly lowers investment costs by optimizing the regional information environment and improving local government governance.Additionally,public data accessibility helps enhance local endowment advantages,thus boosting firms'expected returns.Under the influence of these mechanisms,potential investment gains become a key motivator for firms to undertake distant cross-regional M&A activities.In the mechanism of optimizing the regional information environment,this paper emphasizes that public data resources can only be transformed into valuable information when they are interpreted and utilized.The enabling effect of public data accessibility becomes more significant when the volume of public data is larger,access cost is lower,data update is timelier,and the topic of data is more closely aligned with the firm's production and operational decisions.Moreover,public data accessibility plays a particularly critical role in inter-regional M&A scenarios characterized by higher information asymmetry.In the mechanism of improving local government governance,this paper highlights the motivation of buyer firms to seek policy stability and external business environment support.Our findings show that public data accessibility in the city where target firms are located significantly reduces local firms'perceptions of policy uncertainty and enhances the local business environment.In the mechanism of enhancing regional resource endowments,this paper finds that public data accessibility can offset the disadvantages of traditional natural resources and strengthen innovative ability,thereby continuously increasing its attractiveness to distant firms.Moreover,when the digital infrastructure in the city where target firms are located is relatively underdeveloped and there exists a significant gap in digital infrastructure between the cities of the transacting parties,public data accessibility shows a more pronounced facilitative effect on the cross-regional distant capital flows.This suggests that public data accessibility can play a vital role in bridging the"digital divide"between cities.The conclusions of this paper offer a novel and practical reference for building a unified national market in the digital economy era,providing key insights into unlocking the value of public data resources in cross-regional investment scenarios.Local governments are encouraged to further improve public data accessibility by offering high-value datasets,thereby fully leveraging the enabling role of public data resources in promoting the construction of a unified national market.
public data accessibilitycross-regional capital flowsinter-regional M&Asgeographic distance
万方数据
