Can government data openness promote firms’ inter-regional investment?

Capital, as a crucial factor of production, relies on its free inter-regional flow to release full growth potential. We construct an inter-city investment network using firm registration data from 2005 to 2019, employ a staggered DID method to explore the impact of government data openness on inter-city investment. Our findings reveal that government data openness significantly increases both the total amount of inter-regional investment and the number of inter-regional firms, indicating that government data openness attracts external investment. This result remains robust after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism analysis indicates that establishing a data openness platform alleviates firms' financing constraints, enhances their market forecasts, and improves the local business environment, thus promoting inter-regional investment. Furthermore, government data openness facilitates the identification of local suppliers by external firms. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that industries with revealed comparative advantages are more likely to attract inter-regional investment after the establishment of government data openness platforms. In addition, tests based on the China Open Data Forest Index show that higher-quality data openness and more advanced platform construction substantially enhance a region's ability to attract investment. This study contributes to understanding the role of government data openness in fostering inter-regional investment.