Do anti-corruption efforts improve corporate innovation? Evidence from China

This article examines the effects of anti-corruption efforts on firm innovation in China. Based on the number of invention patent applications filed by firms, we find that firms located in areas with intense anti-corruption efforts are more innovative. We control for a broad set of firm and province characteristics, including industry-year fixed effects, and demonstrate the robustness of the results using an instrumental variable analysis, alternative proxies for anti-corruption intensity and innovation and a fixed-effect Poisson regression model. A heterogeneity analysis shows that the innovation-enhancing effects of anti-corruption efforts on the likelihood to apply for invention patents is greater for young companies and those without political connections, while no significant difference when conditional on having invention patent applications. Moreover, anti-corruption efforts have no significantly different effects between state-owned and private enterprises. Further analysis shows that anti-corruption efforts significantly increase investments in research and development and innovation efficiency, leading to enhanced productivity and firm growth in the following years.