Research Article
Digital Finance and Asymmetric Trade Credit Allocation in Chinese Manufacturing: Supplier Dependence and Firm Markups
Shiwang Huang
,
Kaiyrbek Makulov*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 5, October 2026
Pages:
213-225
Received:
4 August 2026
Accepted:
17 August 2026
Published:
9 September 2026
Abstract: Digital finance may reshape not only firms’ access to formal financial services but also the allocation of trade credit within supply chains. This study examines whether regional digital finance is associated with asymmetric changes in payment terms and whether supplier dependence conditions the economic consequences of such changes. Using 14,159 firm-year observations for Chinese A-share manufacturing firms from 2011 to 2021, the study matches firm-level financial, trade-credit, supply-chain concentration, and markup data with the prefecture-level Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index. Estimates with firm and time fixed effects show that digital finance is positively associated with the payable-period indicator but is not significantly related to the receivable-period indicator, indicating an asymmetric reallocation of trade credit toward purchasing firms. Coverage breadth and usage depth, rather than the technical digitization component alone, are primarily associated with this pattern. The payable-period indicator is positively associated with three alternative markup measures, suggesting that payment-term flexibility may support operating liquidity or reflect stronger buyer bargaining power. However, the direct association between digital finance and firm markups is sensitive to markup measurement, province-by-year fixed effects, and lagged specifications. Supplier concentration and overall supply-chain concentration significantly weaken the markup association of digital finance, whereas customer concentration has no statistically significant moderating effect. Robustness checks, leave-one-province-out estimates, and permutation tests support the contemporaneous relationships, although they do not establish definitive causality. The findings identify asymmetric trade-credit allocation as an important channel through which digital finance affects manufacturing firms and show that upstream supplier dependence limits firms’ ability to retain the resulting financial and operating advantages.
Abstract: Digital finance may reshape not only firms’ access to formal financial services but also the allocation of trade credit within supply chains. This study examines whether regional digital finance is associated with asymmetric changes in payment terms and whether supplier dependence conditions the economic consequences of such changes. Using 14,159 f...
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Research Article
Regulatory Quality and Banking Efficiency in Franc Zone Countries: An Analysis Based on the Data Envelopment Analysis Model
Aime Rodrigue Moatsa Endamane,
Charles Alain Bita,
Hamidou Cephas Atirbi*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 5, October 2026
Pages:
226-237
Received:
11 September 2026
Accepted:
9 October 2026
Published:
11 November 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.jfa.20261405.12
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Abstract: This study examines whether the quality of the regulatory environment affects the technical efficiency of banking systems in the Franc Zone, where two monetary unions (WAEMU and CEMAC) share a common currency arrangement and supranational banking supervision but differ in the quality of their national regulatory environments. Using a panel of the fifteen Franc Zone countries over 2000-2023, the technical efficiency of each national banking system is first estimated with an input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model under variable returns to scale, and its determinants are then analysed with a fractional logit model with country fixed effects, suited to scores bounded between 0 and 1. Regulatory quality is measured by the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators. Franc Zone banking systems operate on average at 68% of the best-practice frontier, which implies that the same outputs could be produced with about 32% fewer inputs. Regulatory quality has a positive average marginal effect on efficiency (0.125, p = 0.049), with diminishing returns: the effect is largest in countries with the weakest regulatory environments and fades as regulatory quality improves. This effect is moderate and loses significance in some robustness checks. Trade openness is associated with higher efficiency, whereas investment and human capital show weakly significant negative effects. The results suggest that improving the quality and credibility of the regulatory environment, rather than deregulation, can raise banking efficiency in the Franc Zone countries where regulation is weakest.
Abstract: This study examines whether the quality of the regulatory environment affects the technical efficiency of banking systems in the Franc Zone, where two monetary unions (WAEMU and CEMAC) share a common currency arrangement and supranational banking supervision but differ in the quality of their national regulatory environments. Using a panel of the f...
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