Does Political Corruption Impede Firm Innovation? Evidence from the United States

作者：Qianqian Huang, Tao Yuan · 发表于：Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1017/s0022109019000966 · 被引用次数：175 · 研究领域：Corruption and Economic Development、Political Influence and Corporate Strategies、Economic Growth and Development

Abstract We examine how local political corruption affects firm innovation in the United States. We find that firms located in highly corrupt areas are less innovative as measured by their patenting activities. The results are robust to the inclusion of a broad set of regional characteristics, instrumental variable analysis, matching analysis, difference-in-differences test, and alternative proxies for local corruption. Further analysis shows that reduced innovation incentives due to high extortion risk and decreased threat of competition could be the possible economic channels through which corruption affects innovation. Overall, our results indicate that local political corruption impedes corporate innovation in the United States.