The Influence of Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone on Corporate Financial Constraints in China

The Influence of Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone on Corporate Financial Constraints in China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The Influence of Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone on Corporate Financial Constraints in China Wenwen Wang, Muqing Sun, Dong Zhou This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5358159/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Cross-border e-commerce (CBEC), as an emerging mode of cross-border trade, has become a new driver of economic growth, so the Chinese government has established 165 comprehensive pilot zones within which entrepreneurs are provided tax incentives, accelerated return, and exchange procedures for promoting development. This study utilized a longitudinal dataset of A-share-listed enterprises in China from 2011 to 2020 and exploited regional and temporal variations to identify the impacts of establishing the experimental zone on regional enterprises with DiD approach. Estimates show it has eased local enterprises' financial constraints by enhancing exports, digitalization, and industrial agglomeration. Heterogenous examination presents different effects across regions. Financing constraints are more effectively alleviated in eastern provinces, non-sub-provincial cities, and municipalities directly under the central government. This research highlights the significance of promoting CBEC through establishing pilot zones and the importance of policy designs in relaxing financial constraints, particularly for periods of economic recession. Business and commerce/Economics Business and commerce/Finance Cross-border E-commerce Pilot Zone Financial Constraints Difference-in Differences Figures Figure 1 1 Introduction Due to the severe delays in financial system reform and concentration of bank credit resources, China's financial market has long favored large-scale and state-owned enterprises. Most firms with higher production efficiency fail to gain financial support (Guariglia et al., 2008). As the Global Business Investment Climate Survey (GBIS) shows, China is one of the top 80 countries with the most financial constraints. Allen et al. (2008) compared China's financial system with that of the sample of countries studied in La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny(LLSV). They concluded that 75 percent of Chinese enterprises are financially constrained, associated with the inefficient banking system and underdeveloped capital market. Most heavily rely on self-financing rather than external financing (Claessens and Tzioumis, 2006 ). Even though the Chinese government has been dedicated to reducing financing difficulties, especially for small and medium-sized businesses (Firth et al., 2009 ), financial constraints remain a major obstacle to corporate development (Hubbard, 1998 ; Poncet et al., 2010 ; Stein, 2001 ). Recently, the development of cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) platforms has become a new driving force for international trade and economic development (Correa et al., 2023; Lyu, 2024 ) and attracted a branch of scholars to examine its capacities in facilitating corporate financing. The main argument is that the CBEC platforms have the potential to assist banks in monitoring the capital flows and credit information of specific enterprises, thereby enhancing their risk control capabilities, increasing the supply of enterprise funds, and addressing the issue of corporate financing difficulties (Xu &Li, 2020). CBEC platforms frequently in corporate pre-established credit guarantee systems that are either independent or managed by third parties. This can reduce agency costs among cross-border business partners (Qi et al., 2020 ; Chen et al., 2020 ). Both e-commerce platforms and businesses seeking bank loans can cooperate to share costs and alleviate financing constraints (Wang et al., 2019 ). Liu ( 2022 ) posits that cross-border e-commerce facilitated by the Internet of Things (IoT) can prompt commercial banks to enhance their credit evaluation system for CBEC enterprises. This, in turn, enables investors to gain deeper insights into the enterprises’ circumstances, facilitating more expedient and informed decision-making and ultimately enhancing the efficiency and diversification of corporate financing. CBEC platforms can alleviate financing constraints and promote firm development by lowering transaction costs and providing capital flow monitoring and credit evaluation, especially in open environments (Ma et al., 2021 ). Because of its significance, the Chinese government has initiated a series of policies and measures designed to facilitate the growth of CBEC since 2012. One notable policy is the establishment of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, which have been described as a progressive "administrative experiment" (Heilmann and Perry, 2020 ). In March 2015, Hangzhou became the inaugural cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone. The scope of the pilot has been expanded to 2020, encompassing a total of 1.4 billion e-commerce businesses. The scope of the pilot zone has been expanding continuously, with 132 cities included by January 2022. Except for Tibet, these cities are located in 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions on the mainland. Specifically, the pilot zones implement standardized technologies, facilitated business processes, and strict regulatory models. Enterprises in those zones benefit from an environment conducive to their operations, offering simplified declarations, accelerated trading procedures, tax incentives, etc. Based on the timeline and coverage of this experimental policy, this study can exploit the regional and time variations to identify and apprehend influences and mechanisms of promoting CBEC on financial constraint relaxing. This research starts by systematically reviewing and collating existing literature on the comprehensive pilot zones, establishing a theoretical foundation. Then, a nationally representative data of A-share listed enterprises from 2011 to 2020 are unitized to approach difference in differences in multiple periods to evaluate how the establishment of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones contributes to relaxing financial constraints of enterprises. Evidence supports that the establishment of pilot zones can effectively alleviate the financing constraints faced by enterprises. Secondly, establishing comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones is achieved through facilitating exports, promoting digital transformation within enterprises, and encouraging industrial agglomeration. Thirdly, further heterogeneity studies demonstrate that establishing pilot zones has a more pronounced effect on easing corporate financing constraints in the eastern region than in the central and western regions. Additionally, the establishment of pilot zones has a more pronounced impact on easing the financing constraints of enterprises located in cities that are not sub-provincial cities or municipalities directly under the central government. In terms of contributions, this paper initially examines the influence and mechanisms of CBEC comprehensive pilot zones on financial limitations for corporate development. In contrast, the existing literature primarily concentrates on the advantages of CBEC platforms (Wu et al., 2020; Pan et al., 2023 ; Han et al., 2024 ). Secondly, concerning policy evaluations, the extant literature has focused on several specific areas, including economic growth (Ma et al., 2021 ), enterprise exports (Hang et al., 2021), sustainable development (Xiao and Zhang, 2020 ), and the reduction of supply chain risks (Dai and Min, 2023 ). Nevertheless, there is a paucity of empirical studies that assess the impact of this initiative on corporate financing constraints. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: sect. 2 provides a literature review, and Sect.3 describes the empirical method and data. Sect. 4 presents the main results and robustness checks. Sect. 5 concludes. 2 Literature Review and Hypotheses Determinants of Financing Constraint The determinants of financing constraints are generally classified into two categories in the extant literature: firm-related internal characters and external factors. Following the tenets of the MM theory, the actual market will inevitably be affected and constrained by several external factors, including agency problems, high transaction costs, and information asymmetry, as consequences of the absence of a perfect capital environment. Accordingly, financing decisions, financing risks, and diverse costs incurred significantly impact on enterprise value (Fazzari et al., 1988 ; Tian et al., 2019 ). In contrast to large firms, small enterprises are more evidently constrained by external financing (Giebel and Kraft, 2019 ; Gezici et al., 2020 ). The lack of adequate collateral assets and difficulties in presenting credit types are the primary factors that result in the loss of financing opportunities (Chien et al., 2023; Moscalu et al., 2020 ). In addition, geographic factors also matter. For example, the distance to banks potentially increases information asymmetry, transport costs, and complexity of the decision-making process, thereby enhancing financing constraints (Alessandrini et al., 2008). In the case of China, Love ( 2003 ) points out that the degree of marketisation of capital markets significantly affects financing channels and costs of enterprises. Regulation policies on the capital market and restrictions imposed have led to difficulties in corporate financing (Dell' Ariccia and Marquez, 2004). As long as the government deregulates financial controls and improves market mechanisms, for example, interest rate marketisation, which has reduced intervention in fund pricing, or the Financial Services Action Plan, constraints faced by firms can be alleviated, especially for non-state-owned firms (Zhao et al., 2019; Heller, 2024 ). Internal factors related to firms, such as size (Beck and Demirguc-Kunt, 2006 ), ownership (Mertzanis, 2017 ), and institutional design (Cingano et al., 2016 ; Distinguin et al., 2016 ) have been show to relate to their financing constraints. Female entrepreneurs face stricter financing constraints due to the relatively lower representation and status of women in business (Asiedu et al., 2013 ). Freixanet ( 2012 ) shows that multinational firms can be benefited from market diversification and export business. Schinas et al. (2018) propose a financing model named the Export Credit Scheme (ECS) and show that export credit scheme financing contributes to a better capital structure that can benefit and increase positive stock returns and firm value. Export business can alleviate financial constraints through sales diversification, which brings sufficient cash flow and gains financing opportunities, rather than improved capital market (Yu and Tong, 2020 ). CBEC, CBEC Platforms and Financing By its very nature, information technology can potentially reduce information asymmetry, contributing to better matching between borrowers and lenders. Firms that widely adopt ICT technologies are less likely to experience financial constraints, as banks view ICT adoption as a sign of a firm's "willingness to innovate" (Pellegrina et al., 2017). Using ICTs in financial markets can reduce transaction costs, which may enable lenders to offer more credit. In contrast, using ICTs among small and medium-sized enterprises will make them more transparent in their self-selected credit assessment methods. As a result, banks reward this transparency and grant more credit to ICT-enabled firms. This is because investment in ICT is seen as an indicator of quality and credibility, leading to better access to finance (Pellegrina et al, 2012). In addition, ICT use can increase production productivity, maintain direct contact with existing lenders, and find alternative sources of financing. E-commerce platforms powered by Internet technologies have gradually risen and generated long-lasting influences on firms’ financial performance. Financial technology startups can utilize loanable funds guided by e-commerce platforms to alleviate local credit supply problems in Chinese segmented credit markets (Turvey and Xiong, 2017 ; Hau et al., 2010). This channel expands the availability of credit to businesses with low credit scores. Deng and Qian ( 2024 ) found, based on the empirical study of Chinese microenterprise survey data from 2020–2022, that digital payments significantly reduce microenterprise financing constraints. Digital technology can alleviate information asymmetry because the digital payment process generates microenterprise transaction data, electronic payment online transaction records, and enhances financing transparency (Sahi et al., 2022 ). Due to the fast payment processing, financing costs can be lowered. In addition, information structure works through strategic interactions between banks and firms, as well as transaction information in the supply chain, to reduce information asymmetry and improve SMEs' access to external financing. As discussed above, cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) platforms often contain in-built credit guarantee systems that are inherently independent or managed by independent third parties. This can reduce agency costs among cross-border business partners (Qi et al., 2020 ; Chen et al., 2020 ). CBEC enterprises often lower sales costs significantly by providing cross-border logistics (Hsiao et al., 2017), payment services (Xiao and Zhang, 2020 ), and dispute resolution (Cortés and Rosa, 2013 ). In China, establishing CBEC comprehensive pilot zones becomes an important engine for promoting international trade and economic growth (Correa et al.,2022). These pilot zones have facilitated cross-border transactions of goods and services (Chen and Yang,2021), contributed to economic growth (Ma et al., 2021 ), business exports (Hang et al., 2021), sustainable development (Xiao and Zhang,2020), and supply chain risk reduction (Dai and Min, 2023 ). Whether through export business increases or information asymmetry reduction, this experimental policy can help alleviate financing constraints among Chinese firms. However, few studies have examined its impact on corporate financing constraints. On the one hand, diversified financing channels with government support are offered in the experimental zones (Xue et al., 2016); for example, bank-entrusted loan operations are provided for enterprises with limited capital (Song et al., 2024). On the other hand, measures such as facilitated trading procedures fastened payment systems, tax rebates, and foreign exchange settlements are implemented. As a result, transaction costs have been reduced, enterprise fund turnover has increased, and constraints on corporate financing have been alleviated. CBEC Pilot Zones and Financial Constraints Establishing CBEC pilot zones with supporting financial policies encourages financial institutions to get directly involved, alleviating corporate financing constraints. In general, CBEC reduces the financing costs for enterprises through special government funds and economic subsidies, creating a relaxed financing environment for enterprises. Multiple financing methods are available through constructing a multi-level capital market, such as equity investment, bond financing, and financial leasing. These diversified financing channels allow enterprises to choose the most suitable financing method according to their development stage and capital needs, thereby improving the efficiency of corporate financing. Moreover, CBEC platforms provide efficient online credit systems for lenders (i.e., banks), alleviating the information asymmetry between banks and enterprises and the financing constraints of enterprises in the pilot zones. It allows banks to monitor enterprises' operating conditions promptly, understand enterprises' sales revenue, alleviate the information asymmetry between enterprises and banks, and monitor enterprises' credit status in real time. This gives banks the confidence to provide financial loans to enterprises, reducing the credit costs for enterprises and helping to alleviate corporate financing constraints. Furthermore, the pilot zones with CBEC platforms and supporting policies can accelerate the capital turnover rate and reduce the credit costs for enterprises (Yan et al., 2023 ), thereby alleviating corporate financing constraints. For example, real-time online distribution simplifies the complex procedures that must be completed in past cross-border transactions. This alleviates corporate financing constraints by reducing the time required for enterprises to generate sales revenue and the additional transaction costs generated by cross-border transactions (Ma et al., 2021 ). Enterprises can understand customer needs and preferences promptly through information such as customer browsing history, consumption records, and feedback on the cross-border e-commerce platform. This reduces the cost of information search and saves funds. In addition, the integrated production model of "local production, overseas sales" cultivated by the cross-border e-commerce platform makes the relationship between enterprises’ production and sales ends closer (Yan et al., 2023 ). The production end of the enterprise can adjust production promptly according to the situation of the front-line sales end, reducing the internal information transmission costs and excessive management expenses of the enterprise and effectively alleviating the capital constraints of the enterprise. Therefore, we propose that establishing CBEC pilot zones is conducive to alleviating corporate financing constraints. 3. Research Design and Measurement This paper empirically examines the relationship between the establishment of pilot zones and enterprises’ financial constraints. The empirical data is mainly drawn from the CSMAR database, Wind DATABASE, and the National Bureau of Statistics, which contains the A-listed enterprises from 2011 to 2020 and excludes those belonging to financial industries. Our baseline estimation model is a multivariate linear regression with the panel data controlling for year (t), regional, and firm (i) fixed effects and is formulated as follows: $${\text{F}}{{\text{C}}_{it}}=\alpha +{\text{c*Zon}}{{\text{e}}_{it}}+\gamma {X_{i{\text{t}}}}+{\lambda _i}+{\omega _t}+{e_{it}}$$ 1 Dependent Variable: financial constraints (FC) The ratio of financial assets to fixed assets is employed to assess the financing constraints faced by the enterprise. A higher ratio indicates that the firm is less constrained financially, as it has access to substantial liquid assets that can be deployed for subsequent investment (Almeida et al., 2004 ). Early in 1936, Keynes proposed the 'precautionary reserve theory,' positing that to circumvent the detrimental consequences of prospective funding constraints on production and operational activities; enterprises will maintain cash reserves during periods of relative abundance and liquidate cash reserves during periods of scarcity, thereby regulating the overall level of enterprise funds. Compared to other assets, financial assets are characterized by greater liquidity, enabling the allocation of financial assets to be employed as a 'forward-looking' strategy to avoid future uncertainty. A higher ratio of financial assets represents a lower risk of operation, strengthened financing capacity, and lower financial cost (Duchin et al., 2017 ; Tornell, 1990 ; Opler et al.,1999; Brown and Petersen, 2011 ). Explanatory Variable: Policy Identification (Zone) As discussed above, the establishment of CBEC comprehensive pilot zones has gradually expanded in batches and currently contains 165 zones. We construct a regional dummy and assign a value of 1 to firms whose registered office is located in the pilot zones, while a value of 0 otherwise. Simultaneously, time variation is also captured by a dummy variable, which is assigned a value of 1 to the year of establishment of the city where the comprehensive pilot zone is located and subsequent years and a value of 0 to all other cities. The interaction term between the time and regional dummy is represented by the zone variable in the regression model, and its coefficient reveals the direct effects of the policy on financial constraints. Implementing the DiD design can enable a discovered association to identify a relatively causal effect. However, the fundamental assumption underlying the DiD design is the existence of parallel trends, which imply that the distributions of the dependent variable follow analogous patterns between the untreated and control groups in the absence of the policy. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the financial constraints encountered by the enterprises in both groups exhibited parallel trends before the establishment of pilot zones. Consequently, the implementation of the DiD design in this study has been validated, as the assumption of parallel trends was satisfied. [Inset Fig. 1 here] Mediating Variables Three mechanisms are considered in the existing literature: exports , digital transformation , and industrial agglomeration . First, exports are measured by the total revenues of exports representing the first variable. The second is the digital transformation of the enterprise. In the existing literature, the level of digitalization in general is measured by a single digital transformation index. For example, He and Liu (2019) utilized a dummy variable indicating whether the digital transformation was undertaken in the current year to assess the digital transformation of enterprises. The current study primarily follows Wu et al. ( 2021 ). Initially, we employ the Java PDFbox library to extract the textual content of the annual reports of A-share listed enterprises. Subsequently, we utilize Python crawler technology to ascertain the frequency of keywords related to 'enterprise digital transformation' in the annual reports ( see appendix for details ). All frequencies of keywords are indexed, and the comprehensive index is employed to proxy for levels of the enterprise’s digital transformation. Keywords related to but are not limited to artificial intelligence technology, big data technology, cloud computing technology, blockchain technology, and digital technology application. Third, levels of Industrial Agglomeration are considered. The degree of industrial agglomeration of enterprises is calculated using location entropy, with the formula as follows: $$\:{Agg}_{it}=\frac{\frac{{Number}_{it}}{{S}_{i}}}{\frac{\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}{Number}_{it}}{\sum\:_{i=1}^{n}{S}_{i}}}$$ where Agg it represents the number of listed enterprise s in city i in year t and S i represents the area of the administrative region i. Control Variables (X) In our estimations, we first control for firm and time-fixed effects. We also follow Du and Geng ( 2024 ) to control for a series of regional economic indicators as control variables, including the natural logarithm of per capita GDP reflecting regional wealth and economic development, the ratio of the annual balance of deposits and loans to regional GDP with higher values indicating higher levels of regional financial development in a region, the proportion of shares held by the largest shareholder indicating the concentration of corporate equity, the quick ratio representing liquidity of enterprise assets, Tobin's Q representing enterprise operational performance, and the price-to-earnings ratio indicating stronger profitability of the enterprise. The descriptions of variables and statistics are presented in Tables 1 and 2 . Table 1 Variable Definition Table Category Variable Name Variable Symbol Measure Dependent Variable Financing Constraints FC The ratio of financial assets to fixed asset scale measures financing constraints, with a larger liquidity structure indicating smaller financing constraints. Core Explanatory Variable Policy Dummy Variable Zone If the enterprise's registered location is in the city where the comprehensive pilot zone is located, it is assigned a value of 1; otherwise, it is 0. Mechanism Variable Enterprise Export Revenue Export Enterprise Export Revenue Enterprise digital transformation Digitalization The sum of the word frequency of enterprise digital transformation Industrial Agglomeration Agg (The number of enterprises in a region / regional area) / (The number of all regions / total area of all regions) Control Variable Regional Financial Development Level Fin The balance of deposits and loans in the region per year / regional GDP(Gross Domestic Product) Regional Economic Development Level Eco The natural logarithm of the regional per capita GDP(Gross Domestic Product) Equity Concentration Top1 The proportion of shares held by the largest shareholder Quick Ratio Quick The ratio of quick assets to current liabilities Debt-to-Asset Ratio Liability The ratio of an enterprise's total assets to its total liabilities Enterprise Growth Potential Q Tobin's Q, which is the market value / net assets Price-to-Earnings Ratio PE The stock price is divided by earnings per share. Table 2 Descriptive Statistics N Mean Std. Dev. min max FC 14791 0.227 3.9468 0 307.538 Export 14791 0.681 3.694 -0.186 102.086 Digitalization 14791 5.867 15.883 0 318 Agg 14791 2.300 4.145 0.001 15.823 Zone 14791 0.297 0.457 0 1 FIN 14791 3.797 1.600 0.580 13.530 Eco 14791 2.411 0.776 -0.123 3.921 Top1 14791 34.825 15.318 2.870 89.990 Quick 14791 0.452 0.203 0.007 1.957 Liability 14791 1.773 3.295 0.040 179.578 Q 14791 1.936 1.439 0.674 31.400 PE 14791 107.418 3463.571 0 420284.63 4. Results and Discussion Baseline Findings The results of the baseline models are presented in Table 3 . In column (1), the short model is run without control variables being considered, with only fixed effects being considered. The control variables are introduced progressively in columns (2) to (6). The estimates for zones remain consistently significant and positive, indicating that establishing CBEC pilot zones contributes to alleviating the financing constraints enterprises face in these zones. The coefficient of determination, R², has increased from 0.01 to 0.015, and the pertinent estimate has risen from 0.25 to 0.27. The changes indicate that after controlling for the covariates' effects, the pilot zones' impact becomes more pronounced. The pilot zones were established to reduce corporate financing costs, and the regions provide government special funds, taxation, and financial subsidies. The operational status of enterprises in the zones is subject to strict monitoring, potentially accelerating capital turnover. Table 3 Main Results VARIABLES (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Zone 0.251** 0.243** 0.244** 0.270** 0.272** 0.272** (0.115) (0.112) (0.113) (0.128) (0.128) (0.128) Fin 0.0949 0.0965 0.111 0.112 0.112 (0.0835) (0.0836) (0.0917) (0.0911) (0.0911) Eco 0.371* 0.377* 0.344* 0.344* 0.344* (0.206) (0.206) (0.195) (0.191) (0.191) Top1 0.00643* 0.00608* 0.00561 .0056273 (0.00351) (0.00344) (0.00343) (0.00344) Liability -1.638 -1.670 -1.671 (1.148) (1.154) (1.154) Quick 0.0541 0.0532 0.0531 (0.0419) (0.0415) (0.0415) Q -0.0753** -0.0757** (0.0322) (0.0323) PE 1.90e-06** (8.01e-07) Constant 0.0186 -1.071 -1.330* -0.726 -0.568 -0.568 (0.0475) (0.669) (0.716) (0.492) (0.469) (0.469) Firm FEs √ √ √ √ √ √ Year FEs √ √ √ √ √ √ Observations 14,791 14,791 14,791 14,791 14,791 14,791 R-squared 0.010 0.010 0.010 0.015 0.015 0.015 F 4.131 3.603 3.328 4.000 3.769 3.650 Note: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1 Table 4 Alternative Measure for the Dependent Variable VARIABLES (1) (2) SA SA Zone -0.00495* -0.00523** (0.00266) (0.00265) Constant -3.623*** -3.666*** (0.00187) (0.0185) Controls × √ Firm FEs √ √ Year FEs √ √ Observations 14,791 14,791 R-squared 0.824 0.827 F 1085.433 705.805 Note: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1 Alternatively, we use another index to measure financial constraints faced by the enterprises. This index, SA, proposed by Hadlock and Pierce ( 2010 ), is less correlated to time factors and relatively more exogenous. The formula is as follows: $$\:SA=|-0.737\times\:Size+0.043\times\:{Size}^{2}-0.04\times\:Age$$ Among them, Size is the natural logarithm of the firm's total assets in a unit of ten thousand yuan, while Age is the firm's number of establishments. The larger the value, the greater the degree of financing constraints. The value of SA's absolute value is computed as the dependent variable. As presented in Table 4 , the coefficient of the zone remained significantly negative, and the conclusion in Table 3 is consistently found. The evidence suggests that the pilot zones significantly impacted the relaxation of enterprises' financing constraints. Placebo Test for Robustness Check In this section, we capitalize fictitious times for the implementation of policies in order to conduct a placebo test, for example, by advancing the timeline for policy implementation. This method establishes an artificial policy and effectively eliminates the impacts of other policies during the same period. As presented in Table 5 , the comprehensive pilot zone policy approval time is advanced by 2 years and 1 year. As the establishment of pilot zones is artificial, no effect should be found, and the coefficients of the zone should be insignificant or close to 0. The results in Table 5 exactly support the above argument, thus reinforcing the conclusion. The evidence suggests that the alleviation of corporate financing constraints is caused by establishing the comprehensive pilot zone rather than by random factors. Table 5 Placebo Tests VARIABLES (1) (2) 2 years in advance 1 year in advance Zone 0.106 0.171 (0.0895) (0.104) Constant -0.557 -0.534 (0.465) (0.464) Controls √ √ Firm FEs √ √ Year FEs √ √ Observations 14,791 14,791 R-squared 0.015 0.015 F 3.549 3.548 Note: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1 Heterogeneity Discussion In China, provinces can be divided into eastern, central, and western regions. According to official classification, administrative divisions can be categorized into municipalities, sub-provincial cities, and prefecture-level cities (including county-level cities). Based on these two classifications, we regress with different subsamples separately, and heterogenous effects are presented in Table 6 . Table 6 Heterogeneous Effects Panel A VARIABLES (1) (2) (3) Eastern Region Central Region Western Region Zone 0.307* 0.0147 -0.0187 (0.163) (0.0206) (0.0860) Constant -1.038 0.0103 -1.211 (1.156) (0.0525) (0.874) Controls √ √ √ Firm FEs √ √ √ Year FEs √ √ √ Observations 10,313 2,691 1,787 R-squared 0.018 0.122 0.164 F 3.049 4.029 1.844 Panel B VARIABLES (1) (2) (3) Non-sub-provincial and Non-municipal cities Sub-provincial cities Municipalities Zone 0.202* -0.0721 0.82 (0.112) (0.065) (1.084) Constant -0.219 0.443 -22.68 (0.462) (3.057) (19.890) Controls √ √ √ Firm FEs √ √ √ Year FEs √ √ √ Observations 7,427 4,288 3,076 R-squared 0.017 0.037 0.039 F 4.604 3.114 0.974 Note: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1 The impact is considerable and pronounced in the eastern region, whereas it is relatively minor and insignificant in the central and western regions (see Panel A). This discrepancy can be attributed to the fact that the eastern region exhibits a higher level of economic development and boasts a more robust competitive landscape, including a more advanced logistics system, a more extensive financial network, and a more substantial talent pool. The government's policy of trialing new policies first has resulted in the establishment of comprehensive pilot zones in the eastern region at an earlier stage and the evidence may suggest the long-term impact of the policy can be more pronounced. As presented in panel B of Table 6 , for enterprises located in prefecture-level cities, the interested estimates are significantly positive indicating that the establishment of CBEC pilot zones has a positive impact on alleviating the financing constraints. However, among enterprises in sub-provincial cities and municipalities, the effects are not significant. This indicates that the policy implementation effects of the establishment of comprehensive pilot zones vary across cities of different levels. Mechanisms Discussion Table 7 Analysis of Mechanisms VARIABLES (1) (2) (3) Export Digitalization Agg Zone 0.160* 1.885*** 0.0268** (0.082) (0.349) (0.0127) Constant -0.259 1.277 0.0828 (0.614) (1.996) (0.874) Controls √ √ √ Firm FEs √ √ √ Year FEs √ √ √ Observations 14,791 14,791 14,791 R-squared 0.007 0.068 0.209 F 4.060 17.145 8.964 Note: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1 As listed above, we explore three channels through which the pilot zone establishment can generate effects on relaxing financial constraints. The estimation results are presented in Table 7 . First, enterprises can increase cash flow and enhance their internal and external financing capabilities through export business. Theoretically, exporting serves as a "signal" that not only reflects the efficiency and competitiveness of an enterprise but also helps to strengthen relationships between the government and enterprises, as well as among enterprises (Bernard et al., 2012 ). Informal financing, such as trade credit, is an important source of financing for most businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (Poncet et al., 2010 ). Export business works as a good signal of trade credit and alleviate the information asymmetry in the informal financing market, thereby enabling enterprises to access more channels in informal external financing market. In addition, export enterprises can achieve higher profits and sales revenues, thus obtaining more abundant cash flow. The pilot zones facilitate enterprises’ exports by optimizing the export declaration process and efficiency, such as "list release" and "summary statistics," thereby relaxing their financial constraints. Second, successful digital transformation can empower supply chain finance, reducing enterprises' dependence on bank credit (Liao et al., 2019 ; Chen et al., 2021). The development of digital finance has effectively reduced the possibility of exit and alleviated corporate financing constraints (Ma et al., 2021 ). Enterprise digital transformation helps expand financing channels and gradually alleviate financing constraints. The digital technology of CBEC platforms promotes enterprise digital transformation in the pilot zones. As a result, it helps expand corporate financing channels. Third, establishing offline industrial park platforms in CBEC comprehensive pilot zones facilitates cooperation and communication among enterprises, thereby engendering agglomeration. The theory of agglomeration posits that industrial agglomeration enables enterprises to obtain and utilize external resources at a lower cost (Wennberg et al., 2010). One rationale for this is that industrial agglomeration can facilitate specialization among enterprises (Stigler, 1951 ). Furthermore, the continuous subdivision of production processes reduces the demand for capital (Long and Zhang, 2011). Moreover, business dealings between enterprises strengthen control over the supply chain, thereby increasing the utilization of commercial credit and alleviating financing constraints. Additionally, industrial agglomeration facilitates the dissemination of information, particularly the spread of default information, which encourages enterprises to prioritize their reputation. This can promote commercial credit transactions between enterprises and reduce information asymmetry between enterprises and banks, thus alleviating sensitivity to financing costs. 5. Conclusion This paper employs a difference-in-differences model to investigate the impact of 165 comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones on the financing constraints faced by enterprises from 2011 to 2020. It delves into the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the efficacy of these zones. The analysis is based on panel data of A-share listed enterprises, and the empirical model's control for region, firm, and year fixed effects. The results indicate that establishing the pilot zones significantly alleviated the financing constraints of enterprises in the pilot zones, primarily through enhancing export expansion, accelerating digital transformation, and bolstering industrial clusters. However, the impact varies by region, with the most significant effect observed in the eastern region, followed by the western and central areas. Additionally, the zones are particularly effective for firms in non-sub-provincial or non-municipal cities. The results of this study suggest that China should engage actively in the formulation of global and regional cross-border e-commerce regulations. Furthermore, the country should support the participation of e-commerce platforms, enterprises, industry associations, and other relevant stakeholders in developing international standards to safeguard China's interests in cross-border e-commerce. Furthermore, China should prioritize the improvement of the e-commerce business environment. This may be achieved by simplifying export returns and exchange policies, assisting eligible e-commerce firms in becoming high-tech enterprises, refining the tax rebate process for overseas warehouses, establishing IP protection guidelines, and bolstering talent development policies. These measures are designed to foster a conducive policy environment that will boost the quality and efficiency of cross-border e-commerce and strengthen the competitiveness of enterprises exporting via these platforms. Cross-border e-commerce affects enterprises' financing constraints and expands their market, impacting their productivity and survival probability. When data is available, future studies can focus on these perspectives. Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval Ethical approval was not required as the study did not involve human participants. Author Contribution WW: Conceptualisation, Software, Methodology, Data curation, and Writing–original draft preparation. MM: Validation, Reviewing and Editing. DZ: Reviewing and editing, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualisation, Supervision, and Project administration. Acknowledgments We thank the editors and reviewers whose comments and suggestions helped improve this manuscript. Data availability The data that support the fndings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. 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Supplementary Files appendixTheInfluenceofCrossborderEcommerceComprehensivePilotZoneonCorporateFinancialConstraintsinChina.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Jul, 2025 Read the published version in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 22 Jan, 2025 Reviews received at journal 13 Jan, 2025 Reviews received at journal 29 Dec, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Dec, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Dec, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 07 Dec, 2024 Editor invited by journal 29 Nov, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 24 Nov, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 24 Nov, 2024 First submitted to journal 30 Oct, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Most firms with higher production efficiency fail to gain financial support (Guariglia et al., 2008). As the Global Business Investment Climate Survey (GBIS) shows, China is one of the top 80 countries with the most financial constraints. Allen et al. (2008) compared China's financial system with that of the sample of countries studied in La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny(LLSV). They concluded that 75 percent of Chinese enterprises are financially constrained, associated with the inefficient banking system and underdeveloped capital market. Most heavily rely on self-financing rather than external financing (Claessens and Tzioumis, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e). Even though the Chinese government has been dedicated to reducing financing difficulties, especially for small and medium-sized businesses (Firth et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e), financial constraints remain a major obstacle to corporate development (Hubbard, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1998\u003c/span\u003e; Poncet et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR54\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e; Stein, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR58\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2001\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRecently, the development of cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) platforms has become a new driving force for international trade and economic development (Correa et al., 2023; Lyu, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) and attracted a branch of scholars to examine its capacities in facilitating corporate financing. The main argument is that the CBEC platforms have the potential to assist banks in monitoring the capital flows and credit information of specific enterprises, thereby enhancing their risk control capabilities, increasing the supply of enterprise funds, and addressing the issue of corporate financing difficulties (Xu \u0026amp;Li, 2020). CBEC platforms frequently in corporate pre-established credit guarantee systems that are either independent or managed by third parties. This can reduce agency costs among cross-border business partners (Qi et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR55\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Chen et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Both e-commerce platforms and businesses seeking bank loans can cooperate to share costs and alleviate financing constraints (Wang et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR64\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). Liu (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) posits that cross-border e-commerce facilitated by the Internet of Things (IoT) can prompt commercial banks to enhance their credit evaluation system for CBEC enterprises. This, in turn, enables investors to gain deeper insights into the enterprises\u0026rsquo; circumstances, facilitating more expedient and informed decision-making and ultimately enhancing the efficiency and diversification of corporate financing. CBEC platforms can alleviate financing constraints and promote firm development by lowering transaction costs and providing capital flow monitoring and credit evaluation, especially in open environments (Ma et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBecause of its significance, the Chinese government has initiated a series of policies and measures designed to facilitate the growth of CBEC since 2012. One notable policy is the establishment of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, which have been described as a progressive \"administrative experiment\" (Heilmann and Perry, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). In March 2015, Hangzhou became the inaugural cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone. The scope of the pilot has been expanded to 2020, encompassing a total of 1.4\u0026nbsp;billion e-commerce businesses. The scope of the pilot zone has been expanding continuously, with 132 cities included by January 2022. Except for Tibet, these cities are located in 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions on the mainland. Specifically, the pilot zones implement standardized technologies, facilitated business processes, and strict regulatory models. Enterprises in those zones benefit from an environment conducive to their operations, offering simplified declarations, accelerated trading procedures, tax incentives, etc. Based on the timeline and coverage of this experimental policy, this study can exploit the regional and time variations to identify and apprehend influences and mechanisms of promoting CBEC on financial constraint relaxing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis research starts by systematically reviewing and collating existing literature on the comprehensive pilot zones, establishing a theoretical foundation. Then, a nationally representative data of A-share listed enterprises from 2011 to 2020 are unitized to approach difference in differences in multiple periods to evaluate how the establishment of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones contributes to relaxing financial constraints of enterprises. Evidence supports that the establishment of pilot zones can effectively alleviate the financing constraints faced by enterprises. Secondly, establishing comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones is achieved through facilitating exports, promoting digital transformation within enterprises, and encouraging industrial agglomeration. Thirdly, further heterogeneity studies demonstrate that establishing pilot zones has a more pronounced effect on easing corporate financing constraints in the eastern region than in the central and western regions. Additionally, the establishment of pilot zones has a more pronounced impact on easing the financing constraints of enterprises located in cities that are not sub-provincial cities or municipalities directly under the central government.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn terms of contributions, this paper initially examines the influence and mechanisms of CBEC comprehensive pilot zones on financial limitations for corporate development. In contrast, the existing literature primarily concentrates on the advantages of CBEC platforms (Wu et al., 2020; Pan et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Han et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). Secondly, concerning policy evaluations, the extant literature has focused on several specific areas, including economic growth (Ma et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), enterprise exports (Hang et al., 2021), sustainable development (Xiao and Zhang, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR68\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), and the reduction of supply chain risks (Dai and Min, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Nevertheless, there is a paucity of empirical studies that assess the impact of this initiative on corporate financing constraints. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: sect. \u003cspan refid=\"Sec2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e provides a literature review, and Sect.3 describes the empirical method and data. Sect. \u003cspan refid=\"Sec4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e presents the main results and robustness checks. Sect. \u003cspan refid=\"Sec5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e concludes.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2 Literature Review and Hypotheses","content":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eDeterminants of Financing Constraint\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe determinants of financing constraints are generally classified into two categories in the extant literature: firm-related internal characters and external factors. Following the tenets of the MM theory, the actual market will inevitably be affected and constrained by several external factors, including agency problems, high transaction costs, and information asymmetry, as consequences of the absence of a perfect capital environment. Accordingly, financing decisions, financing risks, and diverse costs incurred significantly impact on enterprise value (Fazzari et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1988\u003c/span\u003e; Tian et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR60\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). In contrast to large firms, small enterprises are more evidently constrained by external financing (Giebel and Kraft, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Gezici et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). The lack of adequate collateral assets and difficulties in presenting credit types are the primary factors that result in the loss of financing opportunities (Chien et al., 2023; Moscalu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). In addition, geographic factors also matter. For example, the distance to banks potentially increases information asymmetry, transport costs, and complexity of the decision-making process, thereby enhancing financing constraints (Alessandrini et al., 2008).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn the case of China, Love (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2003\u003c/span\u003e) points out that the degree of marketisation of capital markets significantly affects financing channels and costs of enterprises. Regulation policies on the capital market and restrictions imposed have led to difficulties in corporate financing (Dell' Ariccia and Marquez, 2004). As long as the government deregulates financial controls and improves market mechanisms, for example, interest rate marketisation, which has reduced intervention in fund pricing, or the Financial Services Action Plan, constraints faced by firms can be alleviated, especially for non-state-owned firms (Zhao et al., 2019; Heller, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eInternal factors related to firms, such as size (Beck and Demirguc-Kunt, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e), ownership (Mertzanis, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e), and institutional design (Cingano et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Distinguin et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e) have been show to relate to their financing constraints. Female entrepreneurs face stricter financing constraints due to the relatively lower representation and status of women in business (Asiedu et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). Freixanet (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e) shows that multinational firms can be benefited from market diversification and export business. Schinas et al. (2018) propose a financing model named the Export Credit Scheme (ECS) and show that export credit scheme financing contributes to a better capital structure that can benefit and increase positive stock returns and firm value. Export business can alleviate financial constraints through sales diversification, which brings sufficient cash flow and gains financing opportunities, rather than improved capital market (Yu and Tong, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR72\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eCBEC, CBEC Platforms and Financing\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBy its very nature, information technology can potentially reduce information asymmetry, contributing to better matching between borrowers and lenders. Firms that widely adopt ICT technologies are less likely to experience financial constraints, as banks view ICT adoption as a sign of a firm's \"willingness to innovate\" (Pellegrina et al., 2017). Using ICTs in financial markets can reduce transaction costs, which may enable lenders to offer more credit. In contrast, using ICTs among small and medium-sized enterprises will make them more transparent in their self-selected credit assessment methods. As a result, banks reward this transparency and grant more credit to ICT-enabled firms. This is because investment in ICT is seen as an indicator of quality and credibility, leading to better access to finance (Pellegrina et al, 2012). In addition, ICT use can increase production productivity, maintain direct contact with existing lenders, and find alternative sources of financing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eE-commerce platforms powered by Internet technologies have gradually risen and generated long-lasting influences on firms\u0026rsquo; financial performance. Financial technology startups can utilize loanable funds guided by e-commerce platforms to alleviate local credit supply problems in Chinese segmented credit markets (Turvey and Xiong, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR62\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Hau et al., 2010). This channel expands the availability of credit to businesses with low credit scores. Deng and Qian (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) found, based on the empirical study of Chinese microenterprise survey data from 2020\u0026ndash;2022, that digital payments significantly reduce microenterprise financing constraints. Digital technology can alleviate information asymmetry because the digital payment process generates microenterprise transaction data, electronic payment online transaction records, and enhances financing transparency (Sahi et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Due to the fast payment processing, financing costs can be lowered. In addition, information structure works through strategic interactions between banks and firms, as well as transaction information in the supply chain, to reduce information asymmetry and improve SMEs' access to external financing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs discussed above, cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) platforms often contain in-built credit guarantee systems that are inherently independent or managed by independent third parties. This can reduce agency costs among cross-border business partners (Qi et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR55\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Chen et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). CBEC enterprises often lower sales costs significantly by providing cross-border logistics (Hsiao et al., 2017), payment services (Xiao and Zhang, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR68\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), and dispute resolution (Cort\u0026eacute;s and Rosa, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). In China, establishing CBEC comprehensive pilot zones becomes an important engine for promoting international trade and economic growth (Correa et al.,2022). These pilot zones have facilitated cross-border transactions of goods and services (Chen and Yang,2021), contributed to economic growth (Ma et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), business exports (Hang et al., 2021), sustainable development (Xiao and Zhang,2020), and supply chain risk reduction (Dai and Min, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Whether through export business increases or information asymmetry reduction, this experimental policy can help alleviate financing constraints among Chinese firms.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHowever, few studies have examined its impact on corporate financing constraints. On the one hand, diversified financing channels with government support are offered in the experimental zones (Xue et al., 2016); for example, bank-entrusted loan operations are provided for enterprises with limited capital (Song et al., 2024). On the other hand, measures such as facilitated trading procedures fastened payment systems, tax rebates, and foreign exchange settlements are implemented. As a result, transaction costs have been reduced, enterprise fund turnover has increased, and constraints on corporate financing have been alleviated.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eCBEC Pilot Zones and Financial Constraints\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEstablishing CBEC pilot zones with supporting financial policies encourages financial institutions to get directly involved, alleviating corporate financing constraints. In general, CBEC reduces the financing costs for enterprises through special government funds and economic subsidies, creating a relaxed financing environment for enterprises. Multiple financing methods are available through constructing a multi-level capital market, such as equity investment, bond financing, and financial leasing. These diversified financing channels allow enterprises to choose the most suitable financing method according to their development stage and capital needs, thereby improving the efficiency of corporate financing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMoreover, CBEC platforms provide efficient online credit systems for lenders (i.e., banks), alleviating the information asymmetry between banks and enterprises and the financing constraints of enterprises in the pilot zones. It allows banks to monitor enterprises' operating conditions promptly, understand enterprises' sales revenue, alleviate the information asymmetry between enterprises and banks, and monitor enterprises' credit status in real time. This gives banks the confidence to provide financial loans to enterprises, reducing the credit costs for enterprises and helping to alleviate corporate financing constraints.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFurthermore, the pilot zones with CBEC platforms and supporting policies can accelerate the capital turnover rate and reduce the credit costs for enterprises (Yan et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR70\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), thereby alleviating corporate financing constraints. For example, real-time online distribution simplifies the complex procedures that must be completed in past cross-border transactions. This alleviates corporate financing constraints by reducing the time required for enterprises to generate sales revenue and the additional transaction costs generated by cross-border transactions (Ma et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Enterprises can understand customer needs and preferences promptly through information such as customer browsing history, consumption records, and feedback on the cross-border e-commerce platform. This reduces the cost of information search and saves funds. In addition, the integrated production model of \"local production, overseas sales\" cultivated by the cross-border e-commerce platform makes the relationship between enterprises\u0026rsquo; production and sales ends closer (Yan et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR70\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). The production end of the enterprise can adjust production promptly according to the situation of the front-line sales end, reducing the internal information transmission costs and excessive management expenses of the enterprise and effectively alleviating the capital constraints of the enterprise. Therefore, we propose that establishing CBEC pilot zones is conducive to alleviating corporate financing constraints.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"3. Research Design and Measurement","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper empirically examines the relationship between the establishment of pilot zones and enterprises\u0026rsquo; financial constraints. The empirical data is mainly drawn from the CSMAR database, Wind DATABASE, and the National Bureau of Statistics, which contains the A-listed enterprises from 2011 to 2020 and excludes those belonging to financial industries. Our baseline estimation model is a multivariate linear regression with the panel data controlling for year (t), regional, and firm (i) fixed effects and is formulated as follows:\u003cdiv id=\"Equ1\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equ1\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$${\\text{F}}{{\\text{C}}_{it}}=\\alpha +{\\text{c*Zon}}{{\\text{e}}_{it}}+\\gamma {X_{i{\\text{t}}}}+{\\lambda _i}+{\\omega _t}+{e_{it}}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"EquationNumber\"\u003e1\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eDependent Variable: financial constraints\u003c/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e(FC)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe ratio of financial assets to fixed assets is employed to assess the financing constraints faced by the enterprise. A higher ratio indicates that the firm is less constrained financially, as it has access to substantial liquid assets that can be deployed for subsequent investment (Almeida et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e). Early in 1936, Keynes proposed the 'precautionary reserve theory,' positing that to circumvent the detrimental consequences of prospective funding constraints on production and operational activities; enterprises will maintain cash reserves during periods of relative abundance and liquidate cash reserves during periods of scarcity, thereby regulating the overall level of enterprise funds. Compared to other assets, financial assets are characterized by greater liquidity, enabling the allocation of financial assets to be employed as a 'forward-looking' strategy to avoid future uncertainty. A higher ratio of financial assets represents a lower risk of operation, strengthened financing capacity, and lower financial cost (Duchin et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Tornell, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR61\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1990\u003c/span\u003e; Opler et al.,1999; Brown and Petersen, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eExplanatory Variable: Policy Identification\u003c/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e(Zone)\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs discussed above, the establishment of CBEC comprehensive pilot zones has gradually expanded in batches and currently contains 165 zones. We construct a regional dummy and assign a value of 1 to firms whose registered office is located in the pilot zones, while a value of 0 otherwise. Simultaneously, time variation is also captured by a dummy variable, which is assigned a value of 1 to the year of establishment of the city where the comprehensive pilot zone is located and subsequent years and a value of 0 to all other cities. The interaction term between the time and regional dummy is represented by the \u003cem\u003ezone\u003c/em\u003e variable in the regression model, and its coefficient reveals the direct effects of the policy on financial constraints.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eImplementing the DiD design can enable a discovered association to identify a relatively causal effect. However, the fundamental assumption underlying the DiD design is the existence of parallel trends, which imply that the distributions of the dependent variable follow analogous patterns between the untreated and control groups in the absence of the policy. As illustrated in Fig.\u0026nbsp;1, the financial constraints encountered by the enterprises in both groups exhibited parallel trends before the establishment of pilot zones. Consequently, the implementation of the DiD design in this study has been validated, as the assumption of parallel trends was satisfied.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003e[Inset Fig.\u0026nbsp;1 here]\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eMediating Variables\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThree mechanisms are considered in the existing literature: \u003cem\u003eexports\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003edigital transformation\u003c/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eindustrial agglomeration\u003c/em\u003e. First, \u003cem\u003eexports\u003c/em\u003e are measured by the total revenues of exports representing the first variable. The second is the \u003cem\u003edigital transformation\u003c/em\u003e of the enterprise. In the existing literature, the level of digitalization in general is measured by a single digital transformation index. For example, He and Liu (2019) utilized a dummy variable indicating whether the digital transformation was undertaken in the current year to assess the digital transformation of enterprises. The current study primarily follows Wu et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR66\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Initially, we employ the Java PDFbox library to extract the textual content of the annual reports of A-share listed enterprises. Subsequently, we utilize Python crawler technology to ascertain the frequency of keywords related to 'enterprise digital transformation' in the annual reports (\u003cb\u003esee appendix for details\u003c/b\u003e). All frequencies of keywords are indexed, and the comprehensive index is employed to proxy for levels of the enterprise\u0026rsquo;s digital transformation. Keywords related to but are not limited to artificial intelligence technology, big data technology, cloud computing technology, blockchain technology, and digital technology application. Third, levels of \u003cem\u003eIndustrial Agglomeration\u003c/em\u003e are considered. The degree of industrial agglomeration of enterprises is calculated using location entropy, with the formula as follows:\u003cdiv id=\"Equa\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equa\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:{Agg}_{it}=\\frac{\\frac{{Number}_{it}}{{S}_{i}}}{\\frac{\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}{Number}_{it}}{\\sum\\:_{i=1}^{n}{S}_{i}}}$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ewhere Agg\u003csub\u003eit\u003c/sub\u003e represents the number of listed enterprise s in city i in year t and S\u003csub\u003ei\u003c/sub\u003e represents the area of the administrative region i.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eControl Variables (X)\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn our estimations, we first control for firm and time-fixed effects. We also follow Du and Geng (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) to control for a series of regional economic indicators as control variables, including \u003cem\u003ethe natural logarithm of per capita GDP\u003c/em\u003e reflecting regional wealth and economic development, \u003cem\u003ethe ratio of the annual balance of deposits and loans to regional GDP\u003c/em\u003e with higher values indicating higher levels of regional financial development in a region, \u003cem\u003ethe proportion of shares held by the largest shareholder\u003c/em\u003e indicating the concentration of corporate equity, \u003cem\u003ethe quick ratio\u003c/em\u003e representing liquidity of enterprise assets, \u003cem\u003eTobin's Q\u003c/em\u003e representing enterprise operational performance, and the \u003cem\u003eprice-to-earnings ratio\u003c/em\u003e indicating stronger profitability of the enterprise. The descriptions of variables and statistics are presented in Tables\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e and \u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariable Definition Table\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCategory\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariable Name\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariable Symbol\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMeasure\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDependent Variable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFinancing Constraints\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe ratio of financial assets to fixed asset scale measures financing constraints, with a larger liquidity structure indicating smaller financing constraints.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCore Explanatory Variable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePolicy Dummy Variable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZone\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIf the enterprise's registered location is in the city where the comprehensive pilot zone is located, it is assigned a value of 1; otherwise, it is 0.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"2\" rowspan=\"3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMechanism Variable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEnterprise Export Revenue\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eExport\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEnterprise Export Revenue\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEnterprise digital transformation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDigitalization\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe sum of the word frequency of enterprise digital transformation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndustrial Agglomeration\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAgg\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(The number of enterprises in a region / regional area) / (The number of all regions / total area of all regions)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"6\" rowspan=\"7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eControl Variable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRegional Financial Development Level\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFin\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe balance of deposits and loans in the region per year / regional GDP(Gross Domestic Product)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRegional Economic Development Level\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEco\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe natural logarithm of the regional per capita GDP(Gross Domestic Product)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEquity Concentration\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTop1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe proportion of shares held by the largest shareholder\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQuick Ratio\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQuick\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe ratio of quick assets to current liabilities\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDebt-to-Asset Ratio\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLiability\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe ratio of an enterprise's total assets to its total liabilities\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEnterprise Growth Potential\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQ\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTobin's Q, which is the market value / net assets\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePrice-to-Earnings Ratio\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePE\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe stock price is\u0026nbsp;divided by earnings per share.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDescriptive Statistics\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eN\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStd. Dev.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003emin\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003emax\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFC\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.227\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.9468\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e307.538\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eExport\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.681\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.694\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.186\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e102.086\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDigitalization\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.867\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.883\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e318\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAgg\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.300\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.145\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.001\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.823\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZone\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.297\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.457\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFIN\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.797\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.600\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.580\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13.530\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEco\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.411\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.776\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.123\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.921\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTop1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e34.825\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15.318\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.870\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e89.990\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQuick\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.452\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.203\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.007\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.957\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLiability\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.773\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.295\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.040\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e179.578\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQ\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.936\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.439\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.674\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e31.400\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePE\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e107.418\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3463.571\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e420284.63\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"4. Results and Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eBaseline Findings\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results of the baseline models are presented in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e. In column (1), the short model is run without control variables being considered, with only fixed effects being considered. The control variables are introduced progressively in columns (2) to (6). The estimates for zones remain consistently significant and positive, indicating that establishing CBEC pilot zones contributes to alleviating the financing constraints enterprises face in these zones. The coefficient of determination, R\u0026sup2;, has increased from 0.01 to 0.015, and the pertinent estimate has risen from 0.25 to 0.27. The changes indicate that after controlling for the covariates' effects, the pilot zones' impact becomes more pronounced. The pilot zones were established to reduce corporate financing costs, and the regions provide government special funds, taxation, and financial subsidies. The operational status of enterprises in the zones is subject to strict monitoring, potentially accelerating capital turnover.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMain Results\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVARIABLES\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(3)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(4)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(5)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(6)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZone\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.251**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.243**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.244**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.270**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.272**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.272**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.115)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.112)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.113)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.128)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.128)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.128)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFin\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0949\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0965\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.111\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.112\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.112\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0835)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0836)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0917)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0911)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0911)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEco\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.371*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.377*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.344*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.344*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.344*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.206)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.206)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.195)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.191)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.191)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTop1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00643*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00608*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.00561\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e.0056273\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.00351)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.00344)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.00343)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.00344)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eLiability\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.638\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.670\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.671\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1.148)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1.154)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1.154)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQuick\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0541\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0532\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0531\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0419)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0415)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0415)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eQ\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.0753**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.0757**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0322)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0323)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePE\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.90e-06**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(8.01e-07)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0186\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.071\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.330*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.726\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.568\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.568\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0475)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.669)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.716)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.492)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.469)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.469)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirm FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eObservations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR-squared\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.010\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.010\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.010\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.015\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.015\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.015\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.131\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.603\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.328\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.000\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.769\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.650\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"7\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNote: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01, ** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05, * p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab4\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 4\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlternative Measure for the Dependent Variable\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVARIABLES\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSA\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSA\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZone\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.00495*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.00523**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.00266)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.00265)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-3.623***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-3.666***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.00187)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0185)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eControls\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirm FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eObservations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR-squared\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.824\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.827\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1085.433\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e705.805\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c3\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNote: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01, ** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05, * p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlternatively, we use another index to measure financial constraints faced by the enterprises. This index, SA, proposed by Hadlock and Pierce (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e), is less correlated to time factors and relatively more exogenous. The formula is as follows:\u003cdiv id=\"Equb\" class=\"Equation\"\u003e\u003cdiv format=\"TEX\" class=\"mathdisplay\" id=\"FileID_Equb\" name=\"EquationSource\"\u003e\n$$\\:SA=|-0.737\\times\\:Size+0.043\\times\\:{Size}^{2}-0.04\\times\\:Age$$\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAmong them, Size is the natural logarithm of the firm's total assets in a unit of ten thousand yuan, while Age is the firm's number of establishments. The larger the value, the greater the degree of financing constraints. The value of SA's absolute value is computed as the dependent variable. As presented in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e, the coefficient of the zone remained significantly negative, and the conclusion in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e is consistently found. The evidence suggests that the pilot zones significantly impacted the relaxation of enterprises' financing constraints.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003ePlacebo Test for Robustness Check\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this section, we capitalize fictitious times for the implementation of policies in order to conduct a placebo test, for example, by advancing the timeline for policy implementation. This method establishes an artificial policy and effectively eliminates the impacts of other policies during the same period. As presented in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e, the comprehensive pilot zone policy approval time is advanced by 2 years and 1 year. As the establishment of pilot zones is artificial, no effect should be found, and the coefficients of the zone should be insignificant or close to 0. The results in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e exactly support the above argument, thus reinforcing the conclusion. The evidence suggests that the alleviation of corporate financing constraints is caused by establishing the comprehensive pilot zone rather than by random factors.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab5\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 5\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePlacebo Tests\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"3\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVARIABLES\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 years in advance\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 year in advance\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZone\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.106\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.171\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0895)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.104)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.557\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.534\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.465)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.464)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eControls\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirm FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eObservations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR-squared\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.015\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.015\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.549\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.548\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c3\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNote: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01, ** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05, * p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eHeterogeneity Discussion\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn China, provinces can be divided into eastern, central, and western regions. According to official classification, administrative divisions can be categorized into municipalities, sub-provincial cities, and prefecture-level cities (including county-level cities). Based on these two classifications, we regress with different subsamples separately, and heterogenous effects are presented in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab6\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 6\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHeterogeneous Effects\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePanel A\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eVARIABLES\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(3)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEastern Region\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCentral Region\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eWestern Region\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZone\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.307*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0147\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.0187\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.163)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0206)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0860)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.038\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0103\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.211\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1.156)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0525)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.874)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eControls\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirm FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eObservations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10,313\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2,691\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1,787\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR-squared\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.018\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.122\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.164\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.049\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.029\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.844\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePanel B\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eVARIABLES\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(3)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNon-sub-provincial and Non-municipal cities\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSub-provincial cities\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMunicipalities\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZone\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.202*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.0721\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.82\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.112)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.065)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1.084)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.219\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.443\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-22.68\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.462)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(3.057)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(19.890)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eControls\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirm FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eObservations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7,427\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4,288\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3,076\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR-squared\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.017\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.037\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.039\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.604\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e3.114\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.974\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNote: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01, ** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05, * p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe impact is considerable and pronounced in the eastern region, whereas it is relatively minor and insignificant in the central and western regions (see Panel A). This discrepancy can be attributed to the fact that the eastern region exhibits a higher level of economic development and boasts a more robust competitive landscape, including a more advanced logistics system, a more extensive financial network, and a more substantial talent pool. The government's policy of trialing new policies first has resulted in the establishment of comprehensive pilot zones in the eastern region at an earlier stage and the evidence may suggest the long-term impact of the policy can be more pronounced.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs presented in panel B of Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e, for enterprises located in prefecture-level cities, the interested estimates are significantly positive indicating that the establishment of CBEC pilot zones has a positive impact on alleviating the financing constraints. However, among enterprises in sub-provincial cities and municipalities, the effects are not significant. This indicates that the policy implementation effects of the establishment of comprehensive pilot zones vary across cities of different levels.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eMechanisms Discussion\u003c/b\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab7\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 7\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnalysis of Mechanisms\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVARIABLES\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(3)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eExport\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDigitalization\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAgg\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eZone\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.160*\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.885***\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0268**\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.082)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.349)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.0127)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.259\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.277\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.0828\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.614)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1.996)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.874)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eControls\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirm FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYear FEs\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u0026radic;\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eObservations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14,791\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eR-squared\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.007\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.068\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.209\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eF\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4.060\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e17.145\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.964\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNote: Robust standard errors in parentheses. *** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01, ** p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05, * p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs listed above, we explore three channels through which the pilot zone establishment can generate effects on relaxing financial constraints. The estimation results are presented in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab7\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e. First, enterprises can increase cash flow and enhance their internal and external financing capabilities through export business. Theoretically, exporting serves as a \"signal\" that not only reflects the efficiency and competitiveness of an enterprise but also helps to strengthen relationships between the government and enterprises, as well as among enterprises (Bernard et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). Informal financing, such as trade credit, is an important source of financing for most businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (Poncet et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR54\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e). Export business works as a good signal of trade credit and alleviate the information asymmetry in the informal financing market, thereby enabling enterprises to access more channels in informal external financing market. In addition, export enterprises can achieve higher profits and sales revenues, thus obtaining more abundant cash flow. The pilot zones facilitate enterprises\u0026rsquo; exports by optimizing the export declaration process and efficiency, such as \"list release\" and \"summary statistics,\" thereby relaxing their financial constraints.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSecond, successful digital transformation can empower supply chain finance, reducing enterprises' dependence on bank credit (Liao et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Chen et al., 2021). The development of digital finance has effectively reduced the possibility of exit and alleviated corporate financing constraints (Ma et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Enterprise digital transformation helps expand financing channels and gradually alleviate financing constraints. The digital technology of CBEC platforms promotes enterprise digital transformation in the pilot zones. As a result, it helps expand corporate financing channels.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThird, establishing offline industrial park platforms in CBEC comprehensive pilot zones facilitates cooperation and communication among enterprises, thereby engendering agglomeration. The theory of agglomeration posits that industrial agglomeration enables enterprises to obtain and utilize external resources at a lower cost (Wennberg et al., 2010). One rationale for this is that industrial agglomeration can facilitate specialization among enterprises (Stigler, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR59\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1951\u003c/span\u003e). Furthermore, the continuous subdivision of production processes reduces the demand for capital (Long and Zhang, 2011). Moreover, business dealings between enterprises strengthen control over the supply chain, thereby increasing the utilization of commercial credit and alleviating financing constraints. Additionally, industrial agglomeration facilitates the dissemination of information, particularly the spread of default information, which encourages enterprises to prioritize their reputation. This can promote commercial credit transactions between enterprises and reduce information asymmetry between enterprises and banks, thus alleviating sensitivity to financing costs.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"5. Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper employs a difference-in-differences model to investigate the impact of 165 comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones on the financing constraints faced by enterprises from 2011 to 2020. It delves into the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the efficacy of these zones. The analysis is based on panel data of A-share listed enterprises, and the empirical model's control for region, firm, and year fixed effects. The results indicate that establishing the pilot zones significantly alleviated the financing constraints of enterprises in the pilot zones, primarily through enhancing export expansion, accelerating digital transformation, and bolstering industrial clusters. However, the impact varies by region, with the most significant effect observed in the eastern region, followed by the western and central areas. Additionally, the zones are particularly effective for firms in non-sub-provincial or non-municipal cities.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results of this study suggest that China should engage actively in the formulation of global and regional cross-border e-commerce regulations. Furthermore, the country should support the participation of e-commerce platforms, enterprises, industry associations, and other relevant stakeholders in developing international standards to safeguard China's interests in cross-border e-commerce. Furthermore, China should prioritize the improvement of the e-commerce business environment. This may be achieved by simplifying export returns and exchange policies, assisting eligible e-commerce firms in becoming high-tech enterprises, refining the tax rebate process for overseas warehouses, establishing IP protection guidelines, and bolstering talent development policies. These measures are designed to foster a conducive policy environment that will boost the quality and efficiency of cross-border e-commerce and strengthen the competitiveness of enterprises exporting via these platforms.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCross-border e-commerce affects enterprises' financing constraints and expands their market, impacting their productivity and survival probability. When data is available, future studies can focus on these perspectives.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e \u003ch2\u003eCompeting interests\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eEthical approval\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eEthical approval was not required as the study did not involve human participants.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWW: Conceptualisation, Software, Methodology, Data curation, and Writing\u0026ndash;original draft preparation. MM: Validation, Reviewing and Editing. DZ: Reviewing and editing, Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation, Visualisation, Supervision, and Project administration.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe thank the editors and reviewers whose comments and suggestions helped improve this manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData availability\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe data that support the fndings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAhn J, McQuoid AF (2012) Capacity constrained exporters: Micro evidence and macro implications. \u003cem\u003eWorking Papers\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlessandrini P, Presbitero AF, Zazzaro A (2009) Banks, distances, and firms' financing constraints. 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J Multinatl Financial Manag 57\u0026ndash;58:100657\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Cross-border E-commerce, Pilot Zone, Financial Constraints, Difference-in Differences","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5358159/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5358159/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eCross-border e-commerce (CBEC), as an emerging mode of cross-border trade, has become a new driver of economic growth, so the Chinese government has established 165 comprehensive pilot zones within which entrepreneurs are provided tax incentives, accelerated return, and exchange procedures for promoting development. This study utilized a longitudinal dataset of A-share-listed enterprises in China from 2011 to 2020 and exploited regional and temporal variations to identify the impacts of establishing the experimental zone on regional enterprises with DiD approach. Estimates show it has eased local enterprises' financial constraints by enhancing exports, digitalization, and industrial agglomeration. Heterogenous examination presents different effects across regions. Financing constraints are more effectively alleviated in eastern provinces, non-sub-provincial cities, and municipalities directly under the central government. This research highlights the significance of promoting CBEC through establishing pilot zones and the importance of policy designs in relaxing financial constraints, particularly for periods of economic recession.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"The Influence of Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone on Corporate Financial Constraints in China","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-12-04 17:04:57","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5358159/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-01-22T14:25:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-01-13T08:40:13+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-12-29T12:58:47+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"78831564709460657444221058950969168843","date":"2024-12-10T07:26:19+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"313188204588493818095071351926378492323","date":"2024-12-09T14:15:27+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-12-07T14:41:54+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2024-11-29T13:37:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-11-24T16:11:30+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-11-24T16:11:09+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","date":"2024-10-30T04:10:32+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3819e85f-df81-4ea0-a684-829946be5ab3","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 4th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":40960906,"name":"Business and commerce/Economics"},{"id":40960907,"name":"Business and commerce/Finance"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-08-07T07:11:09+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-5358159","link":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05409-3","journal":{"identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications"},"publishedOn":"2025-07-16 15:57:15","publishedOnDateReadable":"July 16th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-12-04 17:04:57","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1057/s41599-025-05409-3","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05409-3","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5358159","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5358159","identity":"rs-5358159","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}