Public procurement, institutional distance and cross-regional subsidiary location choice
基于2015-2022年上市公司数据，研究发现获得跨区域公共采购合同显著提高了企业在采购地设立子公司的概率，且该效应在合资企业及西部地区的交易中更强，表明公共采购能通过降低制度壁垒吸引外部投资。
This paper investigates the role of cross-regional public procurement in firms’ cross-regional investment choices. Based on the panel data of listed firm–province pairs from 2015 to 2022, we find that receiving cross-regional public procurement contracts significantly raises the probability of firms investing in subsidiaries in the procuring region. This phenomenon is more pronounced in more flexible joint ventures and when both purchasers and suppliers are from the western region, reflecting the strong institutional quality improvements in that area. Further analysis shows that cross-regional public procurement mitigates the negative effect of institutional distance on firms’ cross-regional investment, suggesting that such procurement can attract external firms by lowering institutional barriers to investment.