Does digital finance impact debt concentration of Chinese firms?

作者：Caiyun Chen, Li Minghuan · 发表于：Applied Economics Letters · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1080/13504851.2022.2027330 · 被引用次数：18 · 研究领域：Corporate Finance and Governance、Banking stability, regulation, efficiency、FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance

We investigate the relation between digital finance and debt concentration in capital structures of firms. Measuring digital finance with a comprehensive index, we show that digital finance is indeed related to more concentrated debt structures of firms. Turning to the sub-indices of digital finance, coverage breadth and usage depth of digital finance increase firms’ debt concentration, while digitization degree is not a central concern for firms. The link between digital finance and debt concentration is stronger for companies with high level of information asymmetry and high default risk.