The environmental effect of trade liberalization: Evidence from China's manufacturing firms

World Economy - Tập 43 Số 12 - Trang 3357-3383 - 2020
Jingbo Cui1, On Kit Tam2, Bei Wang3, Yan Zhang4
1Division of Social Sciences and Environmental Research Center Duke Kunshan University Kunshan China
2School of Economics, Finance and Marketing Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University Melbourne Vic. Australia
3School of Public Administration, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
4School of International Trade and Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China

Tóm tắt

AbstractWhile prior literature on trade liberalisation and the environment has mostly focused on the macroeconomic ramifications, this study explores at the firm level whether and how changes of trade barriers brought about by China's accession to the WTO may impact on its manufacturing firms’ environmental performance. Adopting a difference‐in‐differences (DID) methodology, we document the effects of tariff reductions on improving firm‐level SO2 emission intensity, and the key corporate strategic decisions responsible for delivering the observed results, with robustness tests covering other major pollutants. In response to trade liberalisation, firms are found to increase labour resources for environmental protection and to improve their production processes to reduce emission intensity. This study contributes to the literature by investigating at the level of the operating firm how output and input tariff reductions may impact on environmental performance and uncovering for the first time the specific actions responsible for the results.

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Thông tin xuất bản

World Economy

Tập 43 Số 12

3357-3383

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