The Impact of Participation in PPP Projects on Total Factor Productivity of Listed Companies in China

The key to transforming China's economy from high-speed growth to high-quality development is to improve total factor productivity (TFP). Based on the panel data of China's listed companies participating in PPP (Public-Private Partnerships) projects from 2010 to 2019, this paper constructs the time-varying DID method to test the impact of participation in PPP projects on the company's TFP empirically, explore the mechanism of the effect of participation in PPP projects on the company's TFP, and then conduct heterogeneous analysis from four perspectives: region, industry, ownership form, and operation mode. The empirical results show that participation in PPP projects can significantly promote the growth of the company's TFP, which mainly comes from the promotion of the innovation level of listed companies and the alleviation of financing constraints by participating in PPP projects. In addition, participation in PPP projects has a significant impact on TFP of listed companies in the eastern region, listed companies in the secondary and tertiary industries, state-owned listed companies, and listed companies participating in PPP projects under the BOT mode.