Does low-carbon city pilot affect the enterprise competitiveness in China? Based on a staggered difference-in-difference model
Tóm tắt
China has recently instituted the low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy in target areas to control its greenhouse gas emissions. Studies examining those environmental regulations have not focused on how they affect enterprise competitiveness, especially emphasizing the LCCP’s dynamic effect. Here, we use the quasi-experimental opportunities of the LCCP policy along with a staggered difference-in-difference model to evaluate and explain the influences and transmission mechanisms of the LCCP policy on enterprise competitiveness. The empirical results show that (1) the construction of low-carbon cities significantly reduces, by 3.56%, the average enterprise competitiveness. Also, capital-intensive and small firms are more susceptible to adverse effects from the LCCP policy, but those effects weaken with time. (2) The LCCP policy affects enterprise competitiveness by increasing operating costs and reducing R&D. (3) However, those adverse effects can be suppressed when a region’s degree of marketization is high and industry competition is fierce. Although our results show that the LCCP policy indeed brings more significant economic costs, those economic distortions can weaken through market-based reforms and improved market competition.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Ambec S, Lanoie P (2008) Does it pay to be green? A system overview. Acad Manag Perspect 22(4):45–62. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2008.35590353
Ambec S, Cohen MA, Elgie S, Lanoie P (2013) The Porter hypothesis at 20: can environmental regulation enhance innovation and competitiveness? Rev Environ Econ Policy 7(1):2–22. https://doi.org/10.1093/reep/res016
Beck T, Levine R, Levkov A (2010) Big bad banks? The winners and losers from bank deregulation in the United States. J Financ 65(5):1637–1667. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2010.01589.x
Berman E, Bui LT (2001) Environmental regulation and productivity: evidence from oil refineries. Rev Econ Statis 83(3):498–510. https://doi.org/10.1162/00346530152480144
Bu M, Qiao Z, Liu B (2020) Voluntary environmental regulation and firm innovation in China. Econ Model 89:10–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2019.12.020
Cai X, Lu Y, Wu M, Yu L (2016) Does environmental regulation drive away inbound foreign direct investment? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China. J Dev Econ 123:73–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.08.003
Cheng J, Yi J, Dai S, Xiong Y (2019) Can low-carbon city construction facilitate green growth? Evidence from China’s pilot low-carbon city initiative. J Clean Prod 231:1158–1170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.327
Greenstone M (2002) The impacts of environmental regulations on industrial activity: evidence from the 1970 and 1977 clean air act amendments and the census of manufactures. J Political Econ 110(6):1175–1219
Greenstone M, List JA, Syverson C (2012) The effects of environmental regulation on the competitiveness of US manufacturing (No. w18392). National Bureau of Economic Research
Huo W, Qi J, Yang T, Liu J, Liu M, Zhou Z (2022) Effects of China’s pilot low-carbon city policy on carbon emission reduction: a quasi-natural experiment based on satellite data. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 175:121422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121422
Ireland RD, Webb JW (2007) Strategic entrepreneurship: creating competitive advantage through streams of innovation. Busin Horizon 50(1):49–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2006.06.002
Jaffe AB, Newell RG, Stavins RN (2002) Environmental policy and technological change. Environ Resource Econ 22(1):41–70. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015519401088
Jaffe AB, Peterson SR, Portney PR, Stavins RN (1995) Environmental regulation and the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing: what does the evidence tell us? J Econ Lit 33:132–163. https://doi.org/10.2307/2728912
Levinsohn J, Petrin A (2003) Estimating production functions using inputs to control for unobservables. Rev Econ Stud 70:317–341. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-937X.00246
Li B, Wu S (2017) Effects of local and civil environmental regulation on green total factor productivity in China: a spatial Durbin econometric analysis. J Clean Prod 153:342–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.10.042
Liu G, Xin G, Li J (2021) Making political connections work better: information asymmetry and the development of private firms in China. Corporate Governance: an International Review 29(6):593–611. https://doi.org/10.1111/corg.12390
Liu W, Qin B (2016) Low-carbon city initiatives in China: a review from the policy paradigm perspective. Cities 51:131–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2015.11.010
Olley G, Pakes A (1996) The dynamics of productivity in the telecommunications equipment industry. Econometrica 64:1263–1297
Palmer K, Oates WE, Portney PR (1995) Tightening environmental standards: the benefit-cost or the no-cost paradigm? J Econ Perspect 9:119–132. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.9.4.119
Porter ME, Van der Linde C (1995) Toward a new conception of the environment-competitiveness relationship. J Econ Perspec 9(4):97–118. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.9.4.97
Qu Y, Liu Y (2017) Evaluating the low-carbon development of urban China. Environ Dev Sustain 19:939–953. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9777-8
Schmalensee R (1993) The costs of environmental protection. Science 139: 805–820. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50210
Shen L, Wu Y, Shuai C, Lu W, Chau KW, Chen X (2018) Analysis on the evolution of low carbon city from process characteristic perspective. J Clean Prod 187:348–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.190
Shi L, Xiang X, Zhu W, Gao L (2018) Standardization of the evaluation index system for low-carbon cities in China: a case study of Xiamen. Sustain 10(10):3751. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103751
Song M, Zhao X, Shang Y (2020) The impact of low-carbon city construction on ecological efficiency: empirical evidence from quasi-natural experiments. Resour Conserv Recycl 157:104777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104777
Su M, Liang C, Chen B, Chen S, Yang Z (2012) Low-carbon development patterns: observations of typical Chinese cities. Energies 5:291–304. https://doi.org/10.3390/en5020291
Tang P, Yang S, Shen J, Fu S (2018) Does China’s low-carbon pilot programme really take off? Evidence from land transfer of energy-intensive industry. Energy Policy 114:482–549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.12.032
Tang P, Jiang Q, Mi L (2021) One-vote veto: the threshold effect of environmental pollution in China’s economic promotion tournament. Ecol Econ 185:107069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107069
Tang P, Liu X, Hong Y, Yang S (2022) Moving beyond economic criteria: exploring the social impact of green innovation from the stakeholder management perspective. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 1-11https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2401
Tang HL, Liu JM, Wu JG (2020) The impact of command-and-control environmental regulation on enterprise total factor productivity: a quasi-natural experiment based on China’s “Two Control Zone” policy. J Clean Prod 254:120011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120011
Wang X, Fan G, Hu L (2018) Marketization Index of China’s provinces: Neri report. Social Sciences Academic Press, Beijing
Weber G, Cabras I (2017) The transition of Germany’s energy production, green economy, low-carbon economy, socio-environmental conflicts, and equitable society. J Clean Prod 167:1222–1231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.223
Wu J, Wei YD, Chen W, Yuan F (2019) Environmental regulations and redistribution of polluting industries in transitional China: understanding regional and industrial differences. J Clean Prod 206:142–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.09.042
Xavier G, Holger MM, Alex S, Arne W (2012) Snow and leverage. Rev Fin Stud 25(3):680–710. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhr113
Yu Y, Zhang N (2021) Low-carbon city pilot and carbon emission efficiency: quasi-experimental evidence from China. Energy Econo 96:105125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105125
Zhang D (2021) Marketization, environmental regulation, and eco-friendly productivity: a Malmquist-Luenberger index for pollution emissions of large Chinese firms. J Asian Econ 76:101342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asieco.2021.101342