|
|
|
| Can Legal Enhancements Promote Green Innovation？ |
| DAI Yunhao, TONG Xinchu, WANG Li, XING Fei
|
School of Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology;
Research Center for Contemporary Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology;
School of Accounting, Government Accounting Research Institute, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law |
|
|
|
Abstract Ecological laws are essential for the green transformation of the economy and overall social development. Firms play a key role in economic development and ecological protection. We examine the effect of strengthening the ecological legal environment on the green technological innovation of microenterprises to better understand how enterprises cope with changes in the external judicial environment and how they can achieve high-quality development within the context of ecological laws.
According to the classical view, environmental regulations increase firms' costs, crowding out other investments. Meanwhile, green technological innovation involves high risk, high investment, long time horizons, and patent conversion. Therefore, environmental regulations may hinder technological innovation. However, recent studies confirm that green technological innovation, as a long-term green transformation strategy, can help enterprises reduce their environmental costs, enhance their green competitiveness, and realize their transformation and upgrading. This ultimately results in a win-win in terms of economic efficiency and environmental protection. However, empirical evidence of how regional environmental justice reforms affect firms' green innovation is lacking. We examine this effect using the gradual establishment of regional environmental courts as a quasi-natural experiment.
Since 2007, intermediate people's courts have been establishing environmental courts. Using the 2003-2019 data of A-share listed manufacturing companies in China and the difference-in-differences method, we examine the impact of this environmental justice reform on firms' green innovation. Our results show that the establishment of environmental courts significantly enhances firms' production of green patents. Moreover, mechanism tests suggest that the courts promote firms' green transition by increasing their risk of litigation and expected cost of environmental violations. This effect is stronger in areas with high judicial independence, strong legal governance, and high industrial pollution emissions and in areas where residents have a strong awareness of judicial protections. The environmental courts motivate firms to improve the efficiency of their innovation resources. Furthermore, firms that invest in environmental protection in the short term improve their green innovation in the long term.
Our study's contributions are as follows. First, we find that the establishment of local environmental courts promotes corporate green innovation. This provides micro-level evidence supporting previous studies' finding that environmental courts mitigate urban pollution. It also reveals the specific mechanism by which local environmental courts promote environmental pollution control: firms improve their environmental governance through green innovation activities.
Second, we test for differences in this effect using the establishment of environmental courts as a shock to the local legal environment. The results show that enforcing environmental law at the local level promotes firms' green innovation without crowding out other investments.
Third, according to the Porter hypothesis, firms that invest in environmental protection increase their innovation and application of clean technologies, ultimately achieving a win-win situation for both environmental management and profitability. Consistent with the Porter hypothesis, our results show that firms that make short-term environmental investments are more likely to engage in green innovation activities in the future. This implies that short-term responses to changes in the judicial environment have a transitional effect. Short-term environmental investments promote the transition to a long-term development strategy, which is a practical reference for understanding the transition decisions of firms that face changes in their judicial environment.
Finally, most studies of law and economics in China focus on how changes in the legal system affect economic performance. Our study enriches this body of literature by examining the establishment of regional environmental courts to strengthen environmental justice. The results demonstrate that such legal capacity building can promote economic development.
|
|
Received: 24 May 2021
Published: 07 April 2023
|
|
|
|
|
| [1] |
包群、邵敏和杨大利,2013,《环境管制抑制了污染排放吗？》,《经济研究》第12期,第42～54页。
|
| [2] |
蔡海静、谢乔昕和章慧敏,2021,《权变抑或逐利:环境规制视角下实体企业金融化的制度逻辑》,《会计研究》第4期,第78～88页。
|
| [3] |
樊纲、王小鲁和朱恒鹏,2011,《中国市场化指数——各地区市场化相对进程2011年报告》,经济科学出版社。
|
| [4] |
范子英、赵仁杰,2019,《法治强化能够促进污染治理吗？——来自环保法庭设立的证据》,《经济研究》第3期,第21～37页。
|
| [5] |
高昊宇、温慧愉,2021,《生态法治对债券融资成本的影响——基于我国环保法庭设立的准自然实验》,《金融研究》第12期,第133～151页。
|
| [6] |
郭进,2019,《环境规制对绿色技术创新的影响——“波特效应”的中国证据》,《财贸经济》第3期,第147～160页。
|
| [7] |
黄莎、李广兵,2010,《环保法庭的合法性和正当性论证——兼与刘超博士商榷》,《法学评论》第5期,第54～59页。
|
| [8] |
蒋为,2015,《环境规制是否影响了中国制造业企业研发创新？——基于微观数据的实证研究》,《财经研究》第2期,第76～87页。
|
| [9] |
解垩,2008,《环境规制与中国工业生产率增长》,《产业经济研究》第1期,第19～25页。
|
| [10] |
景维民、张璐,2014,《环境管制、对外开放与中国工业的绿色技术进步》,《经济研究》第9期,第34～47页。
|
| [11] |
孔东民、徐茗丽和孔高文,2017,《企业内部薪酬差距与创新》,《经济研究》第10期,第144～157页。
|
| [12] |
李玲、陶锋,2012,《中国制造业最优环境规制强度的选择——基于绿色全要素生产率的视角》,《中国工业经济》第5期,第70～82页。
|
| [13] |
李青原、肖泽华,2020,《异质性环境规制工具与企业绿色创新激励——来自上市企业绿色专利的证据》,《经济研究》第9期,第192～208页。
|
| [14] |
李维安、张耀伟、郑敏娜、李晓琳、崔光耀和李惠,2019,《中国上市公司绿色治理及其评价研究》,《管理世界》第5期,第126～133页。
|
| [15] |
刘超,2010,《反思环保法庭的制度逻辑——以贵阳市环保审判庭和清镇市环保法庭为考察对象》,《法学评论》第1期,第121～128页。
|
| [16] |
刘郁、陈钊,2016,《中国的环境规制:政策及其成效》,《经济社会体制比较》第1期,第164～173页。
|
| [17] |
吕鹏、黄送钦,2021,《环境规制压力会促进企业转型升级吗》,《南开管理评论》第4期,第116～129页。
|
| [18] |
吕忠梅、张忠民,2008,《环保非诉执行制度执行实效的法社会学分析——以建设环境友好型社会为视角》,《理论月刊》第3期,第103～108页。
|
| [19] |
吕忠梅、张忠民和熊晓青,2011,《中国环境司法现状调查——以千份环境裁判文书为样本》,《法学》第4期,第82～93页。
|
| [20] |
齐绍洲、林屾和崔静波,2018,《环境权益交易市场能否诱发绿色创新？——基于我国上市公司绿色专利数据的证据》,《经济研究》第12期,第129～143页。
|
| [21] |
沈坤荣、金刚和方娴,2017,《环境规制引起了污染就近转移吗？》,《经济研究》第5期,第44～59页。
|
| [22] |
苏媛、李广培,2021,《绿色技术创新能力、产品差异化与企业竞争力——基于节能环保产业上市公司的分析》,《中国管理科学》第4期,第46～56页。
|
| [23] |
王班班、齐绍洲,2016,《市场型和命令型政策工具的节能减排技术创新效应——基于中国工业行业专利数据的实证》,《中国工业经济》第6期,第91～108页。
|
| [24] |
王动、王国印,2011,《环境规制对企业技术创新影响的实证研究——基于波特假说的区域比较分析》,《中国经济问题》第1期,第72～79页。
|
| [25] |
王树义,2014,《论生态文明建设与环境司法改革》,《中国法学》第3期,第54～71页。
|
| [26] |
伍格致、游达明,2019,《环境规制对技术创新与绿色全要素生产率的影响机制:基于财政分权的调节作用》,《管理工程学报》第1期,第37～50页。
|
| [27] |
张琦、郑瑶和孔东民,2019,《地区环境治理压力、高管经历与企业环保投资——一项基于〈环境空气质量标准(2012)〉的准自然实验》,《经济研究》第6期,第183～198页。
|
| [28] |
张忠民,2016,《环境司法专门化发展的实证检视:以环境审判机构和环境审判机制为中心》,《中国法学》第6期,第177～196页。
|
| [29] |
赵细康,2003,《环境保护与产业国际竞争力:理论与实证分析》,中国社会科学出版社。
|
| [30] |
Bertrand, M., and S. Mullainathan. 2003. “Enjoying the Quiet Life？ Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences”, Journal of Political Economy, 111(5): 1043～1075.
|
| [31] |
Brunnermeier, S. B., and M. A. Cohen. 2003. “Determinants of Environmental Innovation in US Manufacturing Industries”, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 45(2): 278～293.
|
| [32] |
Chintrakarn, P. 2008. “Environmental Regulation and U.S. States' Technical Inefficiency”, Economics Letters, 99(3): 363～365.
|
| [33] |
Gray, W. B. 1987. “The Cost of Regulation: OSHA, EPA and the Productivity Slowdown”, American Economic Review, 77(5): 998～1006.
|
| [34] |
Gray, W. B., and R. J. Shadbegian. 2003. “Plant Vintage, Technology, and Environmental Regulation”, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 46(3): 384～402.
|
| [35] |
Hirshleifer, D., P. Hsu, and D. Li. 2013. “Innovative Efficiency and Stock Returns”, Journal of Financial Economics, 107(3): 632～654.
|
| [36] |
Jaffe, A. B., S. R. Peterson, P. R. Portney, and R. N. Stavins. 1995. “Environmental Regulation and the Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing: What Does the Evidence Tell Us？”, Journal of Economic Literature, 33(1): 132～163.
|
| [37] |
Kesidou, E., and L. Wu. 2020. “Stringency of Environmental Regulation and Eco-innovation: Evidence from the Eleventh Five-Year Plan and Green Patents”, Economics Letters, 190: 109090.
|
| [38] |
Lee, J., F. M. Veloso, and D. A. Hounshell. 2011. “Linking Induced Technological Change, and Environmental Regulation: Evidence from Patenting in the U.S. Auto Industry”, Research Policy, 40(9): 1240～1252.
|
| [39] |
Porter, M. E., and C. V. D. Linde. 1995. “Towards a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 4(4): 97～118.
|
| [40] |
Wagner M. 2007. “On the Relationship between Environmental Management, Environmental Innovation and Patenting: Evidence from German Manufacturing Firms”, Research Policy, 36(10): 1587～1602.
|
| [41] |
Zhang, Q., Z. Yu, and D. Kong. 2019. “The Real Effect of Legal Institutions: Environmental Courts and Firm Environmental Protection Expenditure”, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 98: 102254.
|
|
|
|
