Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
资本配置中的城市偏向：来自中国的证据
Urban bias in capital allocation: Evidence from China
摘要
Urban bias in resource allocation is central to development debates, yet direct evidence on differential access to capital remains limited. Using firm-level data from China, we infer the cost of capital from returns and compare urban and rural firms within the same prefecture. We find that urban firms have significantly lower returns, indicating cheaper access to capital. This gap is large for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) but negligible for nonstate firms, and is robust across specifications. The results suggest that urban bias in capital allocation is primarily driven by state-directed investment rather than private-sector constraints.
中文摘要
资源分配中的城市偏向是发展争论的核心议题，然而关于资本获取差异的直接证据仍然有限。本文使用中国企业层面数据，从收益中推断资本成本，并在同一地级市内比较城市与农村企业。我们发现，城市企业的收益显著更低，表明其资本获取成本更低。这一差距在国有企业（SOEs）中较大，但在非国有企业中可忽略不计，且在不同设定下均稳健。结果表明，资本配置中的城市偏向主要由国家主导的投资驱动，而非私营部门面临的约束。