Economic Growth Target Pressure and Corporate Pollution:Effects and Channels
Summary China's system demonstrates a robust capacity to establish and attain national objectives,which plays a pivotal role in propelling the country's remarkable economic growth.However,in pursuing these economic goals,local governments are incentivized to prioritize investment projects with significant short-term economic returns,potentially neglecting environmental considerations.While this strategy may facilitate rapid economic expansion,leveraging environmental regulations as bargaining chips in economic competition risks deteriorating environmental governance standards.Consequently,the relentless pursuit of economic growth targets could yield adverse outcomes such as environmental degradation,undermining the long-term sustainability of regional economies.As pivotal actors in the market economy,enterprises are profoundly influenced by governmental economic policies.Thus,analyzing the nuanced impact of local government pressure to achieve economic growth targets on corporate pollution is imperative.This paper aims to construct asystematic logical framework for examining how local government pressure to achieve economic growth targets influences corporate pollutant discharge behavior.This paper is based on the combined data set of Chinese industrial enterprise data and Chinese manufacturing enterprise pollution emission monitoring data from 2000 to 2013.It not only assesses the overarching impact but also delves into heterogeneity across various corporate,industry,regional,and temporal dimensions.Furthermore,it elucidates the channels through which economic growth target pressure affects pollution behavior,encompassing scale expansion,technological stagnation,and energy structure distortion.Key findings indicate that economic growth target pressure tends to exacerbate corporate pollution,with varying degrees of impact across different types of enterprises and contextual factors.Specifically,the impact on non-state-owned enterprises,pollution-intensive enterprises,enterprises with a high degree of marketization and low environmental protection pressure in the region,and enterprises before the"Scientific Outlook on Development"and the economic downturn is relatively greater.Moreover,expanding enterprise scale,impeding technological advancement,and distorting energy usage emerge as primary channels through which economic growth target pressure influences corporate pollution behavior.This paper contributes to existing literature in three significant ways:Firstly,it constructs a systematic research framework centered on theoretical mechanisms,impact effects,and mechanism identification,shedding light on how local government economic objectives influence industrial pollution emissions.Secondly,it elucidates the heterogeneous impact of economic growth target pressure across multiple dimensions,enriching the nuanced understanding of its effects and enhancing policy implications.Thirdly,it examines the transmission mechanisms through which economic growth target pressure affects pollution emissions,laying a theoretical foundation for designing more effective corporate pollution control policies.Ultimately,this research offers fresh insights into China's pollution challenges and provides policy recommendations for advancing environmental protection efforts and fostering high-quality economic development.
economic growth targetcorporate pollutionenvironmental performancelocal government behaviorenterprize sizetechnological advancesenergy-resource structure
国家科技期刊平台
NSTL
万方数据
