We propose that stock market liquidity affects corporate investment and production. Illiquidity, which raises firms’ cost of capital, lowers investment in capital assets, R&D, and inventory. This effect holds after we control for endogeneity using exogenous liquidity events, the 2001 decimalization, and the 1997 Nasdaq reform and after employing instrumental variable estimation. Illiquidity affects investment regardless of firms’ financial constraints. Consequently, illiquidity induces firms to adopt less capital-intensive production processes. Illiquid firms have higher marginal productivity of capital, greater labor input increases for given increases in assets, and lower operating leverage, which means lower reliance on fixed costs.

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股票流动性对企业投资和生产的影响

我们提出股票市场流动性影响企业投资和生产。流动性不足会提高公司的资本成本，降低对资本资产、研发和库存的投资。在我们使用外生流动性事件、2001 年十进制化和 1997 年纳斯达克改革以及使用工具变量估计来控制内生性之后，这种效应仍然存在。无论公司的财务约束如何，流动性不足都会影响投资。因此，流动性不足会导致企业采用资本密集程度较低的生产流程。流动性差的公司具有更高的资本边际生产力，在资产增加的情况下增加更多的劳动力投入，以及较低的经营杠杆，这意味着对固定成本的依赖较低。