Faced with the global climate change, as a major greenhouse gas emitter, China launched a pilot policy on low-carbon city construction since 2010. Few studies have discussed how climate policies ...affect the investment and financing behavior of energy-intensive enterprises. Based on the micro data of A-share listed enterprises in China’s energy-intensive industries, this study aims to assess the productivity effect of low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy and investigates the mechanism of financing and investment using the difference-in-difference method. Empirical results provide evidence that the LCCP policy has significantly improved the total factor productivity of energy-intensive enterprises. In terms of the mechanisms, the LCCP policy has increased the supply of bank credit to enterprises and encouraged their long-term investment in fixed assets and R&D activities. The productivity effect of the LCCP policy is greater for state-owned enterprises and enterprises with political connection. Urban human capital, industrial agglomeration, and resource endowment contribute to the productivity effect of LCCP policy for enterprises in the energy-intensive industries. The findings show that the LCCP is an effective comprehensive policy to promote the high-quality development of energy-intensive industries, and the findings also provide enlightenment for enacting better climate transition policies.
Using the quasi-experimental method, this research investigates the impact of green credit policy on the upgrade of energy-intensive enterprises from the perspective of credit allocation efficiency. ...Through the panel data of listed companies in China, this study finds that the green credit policy under the Green Credit Guidelines in 2012 (GCG2012) has a significantly negative effect on the research and development (R&D) intensity and the total factor productivity (TFP) of treated firms. Empirical evidence also shows that the GCG2012 significantly reduces bank credit but increases trade credit. Consequently, the substitution hypothesis is established. Furthermore, GCG2012 has reduced the allocation efficiency of bank credit within energy-intensive industries. As an improved green credit policy to encourage enterprises to invest in energy efficiency, the Energy Efficiency Credit Guidelines in 2015 (EECG2015) increases both the bank credit and the fixed asset investment, whereas no increase in R&D intensity or TFP is found. These findings are enlightening for designing better green credit policies.
•Investigate the impact of green credit policy on the upgrade of energy-intensive enterprises in China.•Use the quasi-experimental method by incorporating an event of green credit policy.•GCG2012 has a significantly negative effect on R&D intensity and TFP of energy-intensive enterprises.•GCG2012 significantly reduces bank credit but increases trade credit.•GCG2012 has reduced the allocation efficiency of bank credit within energy-intensive industries.
This study investigates Chinese A-share listed companies in the new energy industry for the period 2007–2019. We shed new light on the nexus between fiscal policy uncertainty and corporate innovation ...investment. The main empirical findings are threefold. First, fiscal policy uncertainty significantly reduces new energy enterprises' innovation investment, and the adverse effect is mainly due to the decline in the incentive effect of government support on innovation investment. Second, product market competition reduces the adverse effect of fiscal policy uncertainty on innovation investment, which indicates that the strategic growth option theory holds to a certain extent. Third, bank credit constraint is the mechanism by which fiscal policy uncertainty restrains innovation investment. Overall, although there may be differences in the influence mechanism of fiscal policy uncertainty on innovation, the empirical evidence generally does not support the viewpoint of ownership differences. The conclusions continue to hold after controlling for endogeneity and conducting a series of robustness tests.
•Shed new light on the nexus of fiscal policy uncertainty and corporate innovation investment.•Investigate A-share listed companies in China's new energy industry for the 2007–2019 period.•Findings show that the fiscal policy uncertainty significantly reduces the innovation investment of new energy enterprises.•Product market competition reduces the adverse effect of fiscal policy uncertainty on innovation investment.•Bank credit constraint is the mechanism that fiscal policy uncertainty restrains innovation investment.
Despite the increasing use of digital technology in industrial production, how industrial digitalization affects the environmental performance of production activities remains unclear. This research ...contributes to the literature on the relationship between industrial digitalization and enterprise environmental performance by employing a large sample of Chinese manufacturing enterprises. Results indicate that the environmental performance of manufacturing enterprises has been significantly improved in the process of industrial digital transformation. Structural and technology effects are the transmission channels; additionally, structural effect is the main contributor to the positive environmental effects of information and communications technology (ICT) penetration. Industrial digitalization reduces the production scale of heavy-polluting enterprises and improves product innovation and green total factor productivity, but it has an insignificant effect on total factor productivity. Moreover, industrial digitalization improves enterprise environmental performance by introducing front-end cleaner production technologies, rather than by increasing pipe-end pollutant treatment facilities.
To promote county economic prosperity and social development, China enacted a fiscal reform known as “province governing county” (PGC) in the early 2000s. Using the difference-in-differences (DID) ...method and a massive sample of enterprises from 2003 to 2011, this study investigates the effect of PGC reform on firm environmental performance. The results show that enterprises in reformed counties have significantly decreased their pollution intensity since the fiscal reform. Our research reveals that the environmental effects of fiscal decentralization are related to changes in the political assessment metrics of local officials. It also shows that PGC fiscal reform has a significant positive effect on the environmental performance of large, small, and micro enterprises. Furthermore, it suggests that PGC fiscal reform benefits the environmental performance due to the informational advantages of county governments. In terms of environmental governance, although local governments have an information advantage in the allocation of green fiscal funds, well-designed mechanisms are needed to strengthen their motivation.
In 2016, China implemented an environmental protection tax (EPTL2016) to promote the transformation and upgrading of heavily polluting industries through tax leverage. Using panel data of China's ...listed companies, this study assesses the treatment effects of the EPTL2016 on the transformation and upgrading of heavily polluting firms by incorporating the intermediary role of the financial market. The empirical findings show that the EPTL2016 significantly reduced the innovation investment and productivity of heavily polluting firms but had no significant effect on fixed-asset investment. Additionally, EPTL2016 reduced the supply of bank loans to heavily polluting firms and increased the value of growth options for private enterprises and the efficiency of the supply of long-term loans to heavily polluting firms. Although the environmental policy of EPTL2016 benefits the transformation and upgrading of heavily polluting industries in many aspects, it generally hinders the industrial upgrading because of the reduction of bank loans.
Aimed at improving innovation capacity and upgrading technology of manufacturing industry, 'Made in China 2025' (CM2025), which relies on selective industrial policies, has attracted great attention. ...This paper investigates the effects of CM2025 on firms' R&D investment using CEM-DID, a combination method based on the coarsened exact matching and the difference-in-difference. The method can effectively identify causal relationships without suffering from selection bias. Employing a panel data of 1,440 Chinese A-share listed firms from 2012 to 2018, we find firms with core business covered by the areas of CM2025 increase their R&D investment significantly after the policy intervention. Moreover, CM2025 significantly increases government subsidies and financial loans for treated firms, and both effects are larger for SOEs. This finding supports the critique that CM2025 goes against the competitive neutrality principle. No increase in innovation output and total factor productivity is found in the short-term. Our findings are enlightening for enacting better industrial policies.
With the growing trend of arable land abandonment, the potential threat to the security of the food supply has sparked public concern. In order to examine the impact of non-agricultural employment on ...food security, this study builds linear regression models for research based on panel data from counties in China’s old revolutionary base areas. The empirical results show that, although the impact of non-agricultural employment on total grain production is not significant, it has a significant negative impact on both area and productivity, which indicates that non-agricultural employment poses a challenge to food security. In addition, the study examines the potential benefits of non-farm employment on two aspects of food security, including intensive management and the increase of new business entities. Non-farm employment can also significantly promote intensive management, thereby reducing the food-security challenges brought by non-farm employment, while the benefits of new management entities are insignificant. These findings contribute to the optimization of economic policies related to agricultural development, including exploring land property rights reform systems to promote land transfer, strengthening labor quality improvement in the agricultural sector, and formulating supporting policies to stabilize non-agricultural employment in accordance with local conditions.
The capacity for climate governance is crucial for sustainable advancement, with data elements being a pivotal production factor in contemporary governance. This study examines the trajectory and ...strategy of digital transformation in climate governance, creating a three-dimensional dataset encapsulating 11 primary and 36 secondary indicators to facilitate the assessment of digital climate governance. Employing spatiotemporal analysis and coupling coordination models, this study evaluates the digitalization levels in climate governance across 30 regions in China, examining how to progress digital integration from governmental and market perspectives. Findings reveal a consistent improvement in China’s regional digital climate governance, bolstering economic and social progress. Nonetheless, regional disparities and developmental lags persist, with convergence analysis indicating a divergence trend in provincial climate governance capabilities. Moreover, kernel density and Markov chain analyses suggest an ongoing evolution in regional digital climate governance efforts, aiming at achieving a higher development plateau. The study emphasizes the dual role of government and market dynamics in boosting digital governance levels, deducing from two-stage regression that effective government-market interplay is vital for elevating governance quality and fostering new productive forces, recommending an integrated governance mechanism for optimal synergy.
Environmental regulations may promote regional ecological evolution, but they also increase the need for financing green innovation activities. This study uses panel data from prefecture-level cities ...in China to examine the impact of fintech and environmental regulation on regional green innovation in the digital economy era. Empirical evidence shows that fintech significantly promotes regional green innovation, and fintech has a positive interaction effect with environmental regulation. While the evidence generally supports the role of environmental regulations in promoting green innovation, the evidence is insignificant in some models. The synergistic effect of fintech and environmental regulation on utility model green innovation is significant, but not on invention type green innovation. Climate policy, as a carbon regulatory policy, does not directly lead to green innovation, but it significantly collaborates with fintech to promote green innovation. The effects of fintech and environmental regulation on green innovation also have heterogeneity effects between resource-based and non-resource-based cities, and non-resource-based cities have a greater effect on achieving green innovation through fintech and environmental regulation. Our findings contribute to optimizing the coordination system between financial and environmental policies, thereby driving regional green innovation development with fintech in the digital age.
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