Green Credit and Enterprise Financialization:Theoretical Analysis and Empirical Test
As an important component of the green financial system,green credit policies have changed the credit financing environment for polluting firms.Whether the implementation of these policies can effectively transform firm investment directions and curb firm financial speculation deserves in-depth research.This paper is based on data from A-share listed companies from 2008-2020,and takes the introduction of the"Green Credit Guidelines"as the research background,using a difference-in-differences approach,we analyze the impact of green credit policies on firm financialization and its mechanisms.The study finds that green credit policies curb profit-seeking by polluting firms through financial channels and reduce firm holdings of financial assets.Structurally,green credit policies drive polluting firms to cut holdings of short-term speculative financial assets,but have no significant impact on long-term financial assets.Mechanism analysis shows that green credit policies reduce the credit financing scale of polluting firms through credit constraints and environmental regulation effects,exacerbate firm financing constraints,and at the same time encourage polluting firms to improve production efficiency and conduct green innovation to achieve green transformation,thereby effectively curbing firm financial speculation incentives.Heterogeneity tests show that when a firm is state-controlled,has bank-firm affiliations,or its executives have strong environmental awareness,the effect of green credit in curbing firm financialization is insignificant.The marginal contributions of this paper are:First,it provides new empirical evidence for the real economic effects of environmental policies in the context of China's green development.This paper uses the"Guidelines"as a quasi-natural experiment to better identify the causal relationship between green credit policies and firm financialization,and to assess the real economic effects of the policy.Second,it expands the literature on the microeconomic consequences of green credit policies,which helps deepen the understanding of the connotations and effects of green credit policies.The research on the real economic effects of green credit policies in this paper enriches and complements the theoretical research.Third,from a practical perspective,it provides a new policy idea to curb firm financialization.The discussion in this paper on the heterogeneous effects of green credit policies on firm characteristics such as ownership,bank-firm affiliations,and executives'environmental awareness also provides inspiration for improving China's incentive and restraint mechanisms for green credit policies.In light of this,the paper suggests that regulators should further enhance the ability of financial institutions to identify green low-carbon behaviors,strengthen supervision and evaluation of the implementation effects of green credit policies,formulate differentiated and targeted implementation standards,and overcome the impact of firm background differences on policy effectiveness.For polluting firms,they should deeply understand the connotations and necessity of green development,and transform the pressure of transformation into motivation for high-quality development.
green creditfinancializationcredit constraintsenvironmental regulation
万方数据
维普
