Research on the Impact of Digitalization on the Financialization of the Real Economy from the Perspective of Digital China

The digital economy serves as a new engine for the endogenous development of China's economy, and its rapid growth will have a significant impact on enterprise financialization. This paper is based on the data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2016 to 2021 and uses the fixed - effects model to explore the impact of the digital economy on enterprise financialization and its mechanism. The empirical results show that the digital economy promotes the deepening of enterprise financialization, and this result remains valid after robustness tests such as indicator replacement and the instrumental variable method. The digital economy increases the degree of enterprise financialization by exacerbating enterprise cash - flow pressure and reducing financing constraints. Further investigation of the impact path between them reveals that there are regional and enterprise - scale heterogeneities in the impact of the digital economy on enterprise financialization. This paper enriches the research on the digital economy and the financialization of the real economy of enterprises and provides a theoretical basis and policy reference for the digital economy to serve the real economy.