This paper examines the association between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and the financing structure of firms listed on China's STAR Market. Based on 584 firms and 2,039 firm-year observations from 2022 to 2025, the study combines firm-level financial statement data with the Chinese Mainland EPU index and annual GDP growth data. The empirical results show that EPU is positively associated with corporate leverage and the debt-to-equity ratio after controlling for firm characteristics, industry effects, and the macroeconomic cycle. A one-standard-deviation increase in LnEPU is associated with an increase of approximately 0.22 percentage points in the leverage ratio, suggesting that the estimated economic magnitude is moderate but meaningful for firms operating under continuous innovation-financing pressure. Further tests indicate that the positive association is more evident in total debt dependence than in debt maturity adjustment. In particular, EPU does not significantly affect the long-term debt ratio or the debt maturity structure, which reflects the limited availability of long-term debt financing for many technology-oriented firms. Firm fixed-effects regressions and exploratory interaction tests provide more cautious evidence, indicating that the findings should be interpreted as association rather than strong causal identification. The paper contributes to the literature by providing focused evidence from China's registration-based STAR Market and by highlighting how innovation-oriented firms may adjust financing structures when policy uncertainty rises.

Qihang Qu. Economic Policy Uncertainty and the Financing Structure of STAR Market Listed Companies. Academic Journal of Business & Management (2026), Vol. 8, Issue 8: 67-78. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJBM.2026.080809.

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