Will Relaxing Foreign Investment Restrictions Encourage Corporate Green Innovation?
As China's economy transitions from extensive development to the new paradigm of"innovation,coordination,greenness,openness,and sharing",The establishment of a market-oriented green technology innovation system holds significant importance for the development of a Chinese-style green modernization and the achievement of high-quality economic growth.This study utilizes the Chinese industrial enterprise database and the Chinese patent database to gauge the level of green innovation in Chinese enterprises through the measurement of green patents.It examines the impact of relaxed foreign investment regulations,emphasizing a"market orientation"on the green innovation capabilities of Chinese enterprises.The findings of this study provide evidence in support of the"pollution halo"hypothesis,demonstrating that the relaxation of foreign investment regulations significantly promotes the level of green innovation in Chinese enterprises.Subdividing patent types reveals that the relaxation of foreign investment regulations positively impacts both corporate green invention patents and corporate green utility model patents.The spillover effects of green technology and the imperative effects on survival constitute two pivotal operative mechanisms.Mechanistic analysis indicates that the relaxation of foreign capital controls accelerates the international spillover of green technology and places indigenous polluting enterprises under more formidable survival pressures.This compels host-country enterprises to effectively respond through targeted measures utilizing green innovation.Furthermore,this study focuses on the importance of industry linkages,policy support,and enhanced absorptive capacity in the process of foreign investment regulations impacting green innovation in enterprises.The research discovers that industry linkages expand the scope of the influence of foreign investment regulations on green innovation in enterprises,as the relaxation of foreign investment regulations in the upstream energy conservation,environmental protection,and clean industries stimulates green innovation in downstream industries.The relaxation of foreign investment regulations,coupled with the improvement of environmental regulations,plays a more significant role in promoting green innovation in enterprises.Enhancing absorptive capacity amplifies the promotion effect of relaxed foreign investment regulations on green innovation in enterprises.This paper provides strategic recommendations for advancing corporate-driven green innovation technologies within the context of the"dual carbon"landscape.These recommendations are structured around three key dimensions:Encouraging foreign direct investment to facilitate the inflow of advanced international green technologies;formulating a comprehensive suite of policies and refining environmental regulatory systems;and enhancing corporate absorptive capacity while nurturing a philosophy of green development.The paper's marginal contributions are as follows:Firstly,this article addresses the contentious issue of the relationship between foreign capital inflows and host-country green innovation by constructing a green innovation indicator for Chinese industrial enterprises from 2000 to 2010.Utilizing a substantial volume of micro-level corporate data,the study investigates the micro-mechanisms through which the relaxation of foreign capital regulations influences corporate green innovation.It tackles this issue from two perspectives:the international spillover effects of green technology and the survival pressures stemming from changes in the external market,shedding light on the micro-level mechanisms underlying the impact of the relaxation of foreign capital regulations on corporate green innovation.This endeavor contributes to a more accurate understanding of the precise relationship between the relaxation of foreign investment regulations and host country green innovation.Secondly,beyond focusing solely on the impact of intra-industry technology spillovers on corporate green innovation,the paper also pays heed to the cross-industry green innovation incentives generated by the relaxation of foreign investment regulations,thereby enriching the existing discourse on the interplay between foreign inflows and green technological innovation.Thirdly,to augment the policy relevance and practical significance of research conclusions,the paper further explores the regulatory effects of absorptive capacity and environmental policies.It furnishes empirical evidence grounded in the realm of enterprises,guiding efforts aimed at catalyzing green technological innovation.
foreign investment regulationscorporate green innovationindustry linkagesenvironmental regulationsabsorptive capacity
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