How Vertical Management Reform in Environmental Protection Affects Firm Environmental Performance:Empirical Analysis based on Geographic Regression Discontinuity
Based on the quasi-experiment of the vertical management reform of the envi-ronmental protection administrative system implemented in Shaanxi Province in 2003,this paper uses the pollution data of Chinese industrial enterprises from 2002 to 2009 to analyze the impact of the vertical management for environmental protection agencies on the envi-ronmental performance of enterprises with Geographic Regression Discontinuity Design.This study finds that the vertical management for environmental protection agencies has sig-nificantly reduced pollution emissions from enterprises,and this effect is more pronounced for polluting enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises with high bargaining power.Mechanism analysis shows that the vertical management reform increases the intensity of en-vironmental regulations that firms actually face,and increase their end-of-pipe treatment in-put rather than treatment capabilities.The improvement of firms'environmental performance is achieved by reducing output rather than adopting green technologies,which also means that the output effect of the policy is in a more dominant position relative to the technical ef-fect.It is partly due to the fact that the existence of financing constraints inhibits the positive incentive effect of environmental regulatory policies on technological upgrading.The re-search in this paper shows that while using vertical management to deal with environmental issues,government should also provide firms with financial and technical support to en-courage upgrading production technology and realizing green transformation,so as to achieve a harmonious and win-win situation between environmental protection and economic growth.
Vertical Management ReformPollution ReductionBargaining Power of En-terprisesFinancial Constrains
万方数据
