商業匯票在中國社會融資體系中扮演著重要的角色。一方面，作為一種短期融資工具，商業匯票能夠為企業提供快速、高效的資金籌集方式。商業匯票制度的完善能夠幫助實體經濟中的企業優化資金管理，提高資金使用效率，降低融資成本。這對於擴大社會融資渠道，提高社會融資效率具有重要的作用，並促進實體經濟的發展。另一方面，商業匯票市場也是貨幣政策傳導的重要渠道之一。通過調整商業匯票的發行量和再貼現利率，央行可以有效地調控市場的貨幣供給、擴張和收縮社會信用、影響市場利率和傳遞貨幣政策意圖，推動貨幣政策目標的實現。商業匯票市場的健康發展也有助於提高貨幣政策的有效性。另外，商業匯票作為短期融資工具，可以幫助銀行分散貸款的違約風險，滿足短期流動性需求，並獲取貼現收益帶來的資本利得。

在2016年左右，中國的商業匯票市場曾遭遇頻繁風波，大案要案頻出，市場秩序混亂，給企業和公眾帶來了不必要的損失。在這樣的背景下，中國人民銀行決定進行金融頂層設計，成立了上海票據交易所（文中簡稱為“票交所”），並頒佈了《票據交易管理辦法》。中國金融市場的管理者們致力於完善制度構建，通過金融創新推動市場規範化發展。這些舉措旨在建立健全系統，確保市場能夠安全、穩定和高效地運行。自2016年12月票交所成立以來，全國的商業匯票市場逐步統一，實現了商業匯票全生命週期電子化，包括出票、承兌、背書、贖回、貼現、轉貼現和再貼現。2017年至2020年，商業匯票市場的業務總量年均增長了15.4%。目前，電子票據的占比已經達到了99%，傳統的紙質票據帶來的風險已經幾乎消失。使用商業匯票的企業數量年均增長了36.72%，區域分佈更加均勻。其中，企業商業匯票使用額達到了44萬億元，占總額的53%。與此同時，商業匯票融資利率與一般貸款的加權平均利率之間的差距，從2017年的平均86個基點擴大到了2022年的218個基點，這在一定程度上幫助企業降低了融資成本。

在這樣的背景下，本文以2016年上海票據交易所的建立為例，研究金融制度創新是否能提高企業的風險承擔水平。我們選取了2011-2019年的A股上市公司作為研究樣本，採用雙重差分模型的分析方法，以商業匯票使用傾向為依據，將樣本分為實驗組和對照組。研究結果表明，上海票交所的成立顯著提高了企業的風險承擔水平。我們還針對風險承擔水平的影響因素和經濟後果進行了異質性研究，檢驗了票交所成立對於不同供應鏈集中度、不同融資約束、不同所有權制度和不同地區市場化程度的公司風險承擔水平的影響，同時進一步檢驗了票交所成立對企業績效和商業信用的影響。這些研究填補了當前文獻中對中國票據市場的研究空白，研究結果有助於強調外部環境對企業的影響，以及金融制度創新通過組織建設和制度創新對企業經營風險和業績的重要性，進一步揭示了金融頂層設計的優化對於市場經濟下企業有效運行的積極作用。

Commercial paper plays a significant role in China's social financing system. On one hand, as a short-term financing instrument, commercial paper offers firms a rapid and efficient resource of capital funding. The refinement of the commercial paper system can help optimize capital management for firms in the real economy, enhance capital utilization efficiency, and reduce financing costs. This is pivotal for expanding social financing channels, improving social financing efficiency, and promoting the development of the real economy. On the other hand, the commercial paper market serves as a crucial conduit for monetary policy transmission. By adjusting the issuance volume and rediscount rates of commercial paper, the central bank can effectively regulate market monetary supply, expand or contract social credit, influence market interest rates, and convey monetary policy intentions, thereby facilitating the achievement of monetary policy objectives. The healthy development of the commercial paper market also enhances the effectiveness of monetary policy. Furthermore, as a short-term financing tool, commercial paper can help banks diversify default risk associated with loans, meet short-term liquidity demands, and generate capital gains from discounting.

Around 2016, China's commercial paper market experienced frequent turbulence, with numerous high-profile cases of irregularities, resulting in market disorder and unnecessary losses for businesses and the public. In response to this backdrop, the People's Bank of China initiated financial top-level design, establishing the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange Corporation Ltd (referred to as "the Exchange" herein) and promulgating the “Measures for the Administration of Commercial Paper Transactions”. The regulators of China's financial markets have committed to refining institutional frameworks, promoting market standardization through financial innovation.

These measures aim to establish a robust system that ensures the market operates safely, stably, and efficiently. Since the establishment of the Exchange in December 2016, China's commercial paper market has gradually unified, achieving full lifecycle digitalization, including issuance, acceptance, endorsement, redemption, discounting, interbank discounting, and rediscounting. From 2017 to 2020, the total business volume in the commercial paper market grew annually by an average of 15.4%. Currently, digital paper accounts for 99% of the market, with traditional commercial paper posing almost negligible risk. The number of firms using commercial paper has grown annually by an average of 36.72%, with a more homogeneous regional distribution. Among them, the total amount of commercial paper used by firms has reached 44 trillion Chinese yuan, constituting 53% of the total. Meanwhile, the gap between commercial paper rates and the weighted average rates of normal loans has expanded from an average of 86 basis points in 2017 to 218 basis points in 2022, thereby helping businesses reduce financing costs to some extent.

In such a context, this study takes the establishment of the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange in 2016 as a case study to investigate whether financial system innovation can enhance firms’ risk taking. We select A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2019 as research samples and employ a Difference-in-Differences model analysis method. Based on commercial paper usage propensity, we divide the samples into experimental and control groups. The research results indicate that the establishment of the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange significantly enhances firms’ risk taking. We also conduct heterogeneous studies on the influencing factors and economic consequences of risk-taking levels, examining the impact of the Exchange's establishment on corporate risk-taking levels for companies with different supply chain concentrations, financing constraints, ownership systems, and regional marketization levels. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of the Exchange's establishment on corporate performance and commercial credit. These studies fill a gap in current literature on China's commercial paper market, emphasizing the external influences on firms and the significance of financial institutional innovation through organizational construction and system innovation on firms’ operational risk and performance. This further underscores the positive role of optimizing financial top-level design in the effective operation of enterprises in the socialist market economy.