How Does Firm-Level Economic Policy Uncertainty Affect Corporate Innovation? Evidence from China

Abstract

Innovation is the main driving force of the sustainable development of enterprises. Economic policy uncertainty has increased dramatically in recent years due to events such as COVID-19, which will alter the business environment of enterprises and ultimately affect their innovation behavior. How economic policy uncertainty will affect corporate innovation has become a crucial topic, but empirical studies have not reached consistent conclusions, and few have noted the heterogeneity of different firms’ perceptions of uncertainty. This study used a textual analysis approach to create firm-level economic policy uncertainty indicators from the texts of annual reports of Chinese A-share listed firms. Based on the effectiveness of our measure of economic policy uncertainty, we further examined its impact on firm innovation. We find that our uncertainty measure has negative effects on enterprise innovation activity, and this negative impact is more significant among non-state-owned enterprises, and firms with higher financial constraints and lower government subsidies. We extend the measurement of economic policy uncertainty from the micro level and provide some suggestions for policymakers at the macro level. In the period of increasing uncertainty in the external environment, the government should try to maintain the stability and transparency of economic policies, and provide more targeted policy support to enterprises, such as by broadening their financing channels and providing innovation subsidies.