| variable name | Variable code | Variable definitions |
Explained variable | R & D index 1 | Rd | Ln (capitalization of R & D investment of enterprises that year +1) |
R & D index 2 | Rda | Capitalization of R & D investment of enterprises that year/total assets * 100 | |
Explanatory variables | RMB exchange rate | Rate | Annual nominal exchange rate of RMB against US dollar under the direct quotation method (monthly average) |
| Whether the company is an exporter | Treat | The company belongs to the export enterprise (experimental group) is defined as 1, belongs to non-exporting enterprises (control group) is defined as 0 |
| “8.11” exchange reform event | Pose | Defined as 1 if “8.11” exchange reform event occurred in the year of 2015 and 2016 and beyond (2015-2016) and otherwise 0 (2011-2014) |
| If “8.11” and if exporter’s pay by | Treat Pose | Treat*Pose |
Control variables | Company Size | Size | Natural logarithm of firm’s total asset size = Ln (total asset value + 1) |
| Financial leverage | Lev | Enterprise debt ratio = total liabilities/total assets |
| Business age | Age | Business Age = Year of the Year − Year of Establishment |
| Nature of property | Soe | The actual controller of the enterprise is the central government or local government, the value is 1, otherwise 0 |
| Profitability | Roe | Enterprise total return on assets = current net profit/end of the net assets |
| Net cash flow from operating activities | Cfo | Net cash flow generated from operating activities = net cash flow from operating activities/total assets at the end of the period |
| Product market competition | Hhi | Using Company Revenue to Calculate Industry Annual Herfindahl Index (HHI) |
| Financing constraints | Fc | Financing constraints = (operating assets − operating liabilities)/total assets at the end of the period |
| Number of employees | Employee | Number of employees = Ln (number of employees in the enterprise at the year + 1) |
| Ownership concentration | shrcr1 | The largest shareholder of the company shareholding ratio |
| Export earnings | Export | Export income = Ln (enterprise export income of the year + 1) |