Robots, Labour Market Frictions and Corporate Financial Policy
利用国际机器人联合会数据和机器人专利数据构建企业层面的机器人暴露指标，发现机器人使用导致企业杠杆率上升、现金持有下降，且该效应在面临最低工资上涨和外国竞争等负面冲击时更强。
ABSTRACT We construct a novel firm‐level measure of robot exposure using the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) data set and new robot patent data. We find that the use of robots leads to higher leverage and lower cash holdings. Using an instrumental variable based on the comparative advantage of robots in specific tasks, we find that the effect is likely to be causal and driven by the reduced operating leverage. The effect is stronger when firms are hit by negative shocks including minimum wage hikes and foreign competition. Firms with more robots pay out more and use fewer corporate hedging contracts.