Index Measurement and Influencing Factor Analysis of China's Financial Innovation Structure

Since the reform and opening up in 1978, China has basically established a financial system that has adapted to the requirements of the market economy after several stages of financial innovation. Based on financial innovation events in China from 1979 to 2015, this paper compiles the structural index of China's financial innovation, and analyses the evolution trends and influencing factors of China's financial innovation structure. The index reflects the increasingly complexity and maturity of the overall structure of financial innovation since the reform and opening up, while the cumulative contribution of the six innovative forms to the changes in innovation structure has become more consistent and stable. The empirical analysis shows that the exploration of financial innovation is the continuous driving force to promote the change of financial innovation structure in China. What’s more, major reform decisions, opening to the outside world, as well as scientific and technological progress promote the structural change of China's financial innovation, while the financial crisis inhibits the structural change of China's financial innovation. The policy implication of this paper is that China needs to deepen reform, create a more suitable environment for endogenous financial innovation, carry out more original financial innovation, focus on promoting system, management and technology innovation, and pay attention to the selection of opportunity and window period of innovation.