Public data access and capital structure adjustment speed: evidence from China
研究发现中国地方政府开放公共数据平台能显著加快企业资本结构调整速度，尤其对负债不足的企业和债务融资方式影响更大，机制是降低信息不对称和缓解融资约束。
This paper investigates whether and how opening government data impacts leverage adjustment speed. Based on the staggered establishment of public data open platforms in China, we employ a difference-in-differences (DID) model and find that public data availability significantly accelerates dynamic capital structure adjustment. The effect is more significant in under-leveraged firms, which tend to make upward adjustments. Differentiating dynamic capital structure adjustment modes suggests that debt financing modes are more sensitive to public data availability than equity-related adjustments. Mechanism tests indicate that reducing information asymmetry and alleviating financial constraints are possible mechanisms. Further analysis reveals that both the quantity and quality of information disclosed on public data open platforms are positively correlated with leverage adjustment speed. Cross-sectional tests further reveal that the findings are more pronounced for firms in regions with lower credit allocation efficiency, in highly competitive industries, with less external monitoring, as well as for non-state-owned enterprises. This study highlights the role of opening government data in optimizing corporate financing decisions and extends the literature on public data availability, which provides policy implications for open data initiatives.