The policy effect of green finance reform and innovations: Empirical evidence at the firm level
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2022
Abstract
The Chinese central government established eight pilot zones in five provinces for green finance reform and innovations (GFRI) in 2017. The pilot zones promote green finance development and explore the propagable and reproducible experiences regarding mechanisms and institutions. Adopting a sample of China's listed companies from 2012 to 2021, this paper constructed a quasi-natural experiment and investigated the GFRI policy's effect on firms' total factor productivity (TFP) using the difference-in-differences (DID) method to verify the implementation effect of the GFRI policy. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis and mechanism analysis were conducted to identify the guidance effect and deep mechanisms of the GFRI policy. The empirical results demonstrated that firms' TFP in pilot zones increased substantially after implementing the GFRI pilot policy, confirming that the policy had a strong incentive effect. The corresponding promoting effect was particularly significant for non-state-owned companies, the eastern and central regions, and firms in the growth stage. Further mechanism analysis revealed that the GFRI pilot policy can stimulated firms' TFP by promoting technological innovation and improving resource allocation efficiency. This paper's empirical findings are essential in improving relevant policies and expanding the pilot zones.
Keywords
Research-and-development, Environmental-regulation, Productivity evidence, Investment, Protection, Growth, Regulations, Transition, Efficiency, Mechanism
Divisions
economics
Funders
None
Publication Title
PLoS ONE
Volume
17
Issue
12
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Publisher Location
1160 BATTERY STREET, STE 100, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111 USA