Abstract: It is a very common phenomenon that private enterprises have political connections with government. There were not consistent conclusions about the effect of private enterprises’ political connections on corporate value and financial performance in literatures. There was also less researches on cost consequences of private enterprises’ political connections. So, the paper studies the effect of private enterprises’ political connections on corporate non-productive expenditures and R& D investment. We find there is a significant positive relationship between private enterprises’ political connections and corporate non-productive expenditures, and this relationship is more prominent in the areas which institutions environment is poor. We also find there is a significant negative relationship between private enterprises’ political connections and corporate R&D investment, and the relationship is more prominent in the areas which institutions environment is poor. The finds show that although private companies may gent rent through establishing political connections with government, but they also undertake the corresponding costs such as increase of non-productive expenditures and reduce of R& D investments. So there is an uncertainty of the effect of private enterprises’ political connections on corporate value and financial performance and private enterprises should carefully consider the strategy of political connections with government.

摘要： 民营企业存在政治联系的现象在转型经济体和发展中国家非常普遍。但是，关于民营企业政治联系对公司价值与财务绩效的影响，以往的研究文献未取得一致的结论。此外，关于民营企业政治联系的成本效应，以往的研究关注较少。基于此，本文从非生产性支出及R&D投资的角度对民营企业政治联系的成本效应进行了进一步的考察。研究发现，民营企业的政治联系与非生产性支出显著正相关；与R&D投资显著负相关；此外，在制度环境差的地区，民营企业的政治联系与企业的非生产性支出及R&D投资的相关关系更强。本文的研究结果表明，民营企业的政治联系在为企业获取政治联系收益的同时，也会导致政治联系成本效应的发生如非生产性支出的增加，并会弱化企业的核心能力建设如R&D投资，因而民营企业的政治联系对企业价值与财务绩效的影响存在不确定性，民营企业应慎重考虑政治联系战略的选择。

关键词: 民营企业, 政治联系, 非生产性支出, R& D投资, 制度环境, Private Enterprises, Political Connections, Non-Productive Expenditures, R&D, Institutional Environment