The Impact Of Economic Policy Uncertainty On Corporate R&D Investment

Since the reform and opening up,China has maintained rapid development.The economic aggregate has surpassed Japan to be the second in the world,and its international status has gradually improved,and many economic indicators are among the highest in the world,but these high growth also hide huge problems.At present,Chinese economy has advantages in terms of overall quantity,but the per capita level is still low;the economic growth rate is relatively fast,but most of them are low-quality growth,which is made up of resources and elements.Under the current new economic normal,the Chinese economy is faced with opportunities for structural optimization and transformation.Therefore,the construction of an innovative national strategy has been placed at the core of national development.At present,Chinese overall R&D and innovation investment is entering a period of rapid growth,independent innovation and technological advancement have become the internal driving force for more and more enterprises to seek development.However,when companies consider innovative decisions,they often face multiple uncertainties,including economic policy uncertainty.The volatility of economic policies will change the economic environment in which enterprises are located,which will make it impossible for enterprises to predict whether the future investment will bring in gains or benefits,and thus affect the innovation investment decisions of enterprises.Nowadays,China is in the period of economic transition.The launch of frequent economic policies further pushes the uncertainty of enterprise innovation to a higher level.Therefore,it is crucial to explore the impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate innovation behavior and possible transmission path for both the economic and micro companies.With regard to the impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate innovation investment,this paper mainly focuses on theoretical analysis and empirical analysis.In the theoretical research,from the theory of technological innovation,financing constraints,and investment options,they explains in detail why companies should innovate,what aspects of corporate innovation will be faced,and how uncertainty affects corporate innovation investment decisions.In the empirical research,this paper uses the mediation effect analysis method to explore the impact of economic policy uncertainty on innovation investment,fixed asset investment,and the intermediary effect of fixed asset investment between economic policy uncertaintyand R&D investment.At the same time,based on the current research,the paper lags the model to further explain the relationship between long-term economic policy uncertainty and R&D investment.This paper is based on Economic Policy Uncertaintu Index,which constructed by Baker and other scholars in 2016,and uses A-share listed companies' 2010-2016 data for regression analysis.The results show that:First,the growth of economic policy uncertainty will promote enterprises to increase R&D investment.Second,the increase in economic policy uncertainty will inhibit enterprises from investing in fixed assets.Third,there is a substitution effect between R&D investment and fixed asset investment;Fourth,through the analysis of mediation effects,economic policy uncertainty can not only directly affect R&D investment,but also indirectly affect R&D investment through fixed asset investment,but mainly based on direct effects.Fifth,the model lag results show that,in the long run,economic policy uncertainty will have a negative impact on R&D investment,the reduction of fixed asset investment to R&D investment is only temporary,and the effect of this substitution will gradually weaken.The research conclusions have certain reference significance for the introduction of government policies and enterprise innovation decision-making.