Does ambient air quality standard contribute to green innovation of enterprises in China? Implications for environmental protection and public health
In the post-COVID-19 era, environmental pollution has been a serious threat to public health. Enterprises are in urgent need of enhancing green technology innovation as the main source of pollutant emissions, and it is necessary for governments to support green innovation of enterprises to reduce po...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.997864/full |
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| author | Zhi-feng Zhang Hao-dong Xu Shuang-shuang Shan Hong-yan Duan Yu-qi Lu Yi-pin Lyu |
| author_facet | Zhi-feng Zhang Hao-dong Xu Shuang-shuang Shan Hong-yan Duan Yu-qi Lu Yi-pin Lyu |
| author_sort | Zhi-feng Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the post-COVID-19 era, environmental pollution has been a serious threat to public health. Enterprises are in urgent need of enhancing green technology innovation as the main source of pollutant emissions, and it is necessary for governments to support green innovation of enterprises to reduce pollutant emissions and promote public health. In this context, this paper investigates whether the Ambient Air Quality Standard (AAQS) implemented in 2012 in China contributes to green innovation of enterprises, to provide implications for environmental protection and public health. By using panel data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2020, this study adopts the difference-in-difference model to analyze the policy impact of environmental regulation on green innovation of enterprises and its internal mechanism. The results show that AAQS has significantly improved the green innovation of enterprises. Furthermore, AAQS affects the green innovation of enterprises by virtue of two mechanism paths: compliance cost effect and innovation offset effect. On the one hand, AAQS leads to an increase in production costs of enterprises, thus inhibiting green innovation activities of enterprises. On the other hand, AAQS encourages enterprises to increase R&D investment in green technology, thus enhancing their green innovation. In addition, the impact of AAQS on firms' green innovation has heterogeneous characteristics. Our findings not only enrich the studies of environmental regulation and green innovation of enterprises but also provide policymakers in China and other developing countries with implications for environmental protection and public health improvement. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:04:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc2f3efa14ad4e96847e6b79e3a843b1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T11:04:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc2f3efa14ad4e96847e6b79e3a843b12022-12-22T03:35:49ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652022-11-011010.3389/fpubh.2022.997864997864Does ambient air quality standard contribute to green innovation of enterprises in China? Implications for environmental protection and public healthZhi-feng Zhang0Hao-dong Xu1Shuang-shuang Shan2Hong-yan Duan3Yu-qi Lu4Yi-pin Lyu5School of Economics, Qingdao University, Qingdao, ChinaSchool of Economics, Qingdao University, Qingdao, ChinaSchool of Foreign Language Education, Qingdao University, Qingdao, ChinaDepartment of Economics, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United KingdomSchool of Marxism, East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, ChinaCollege of Engineering and Applied Sciences, The State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, United StatesIn the post-COVID-19 era, environmental pollution has been a serious threat to public health. Enterprises are in urgent need of enhancing green technology innovation as the main source of pollutant emissions, and it is necessary for governments to support green innovation of enterprises to reduce pollutant emissions and promote public health. In this context, this paper investigates whether the Ambient Air Quality Standard (AAQS) implemented in 2012 in China contributes to green innovation of enterprises, to provide implications for environmental protection and public health. By using panel data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2020, this study adopts the difference-in-difference model to analyze the policy impact of environmental regulation on green innovation of enterprises and its internal mechanism. The results show that AAQS has significantly improved the green innovation of enterprises. Furthermore, AAQS affects the green innovation of enterprises by virtue of two mechanism paths: compliance cost effect and innovation offset effect. On the one hand, AAQS leads to an increase in production costs of enterprises, thus inhibiting green innovation activities of enterprises. On the other hand, AAQS encourages enterprises to increase R&D investment in green technology, thus enhancing their green innovation. In addition, the impact of AAQS on firms' green innovation has heterogeneous characteristics. Our findings not only enrich the studies of environmental regulation and green innovation of enterprises but also provide policymakers in China and other developing countries with implications for environmental protection and public health improvement.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.997864/fullAmbient Air Quality Standardgreen innovationenvironmental protectionpublic healthdifference-in-difference modelcompliance cost effect |
| spellingShingle | Zhi-feng Zhang Hao-dong Xu Shuang-shuang Shan Hong-yan Duan Yu-qi Lu Yi-pin Lyu Does ambient air quality standard contribute to green innovation of enterprises in China? Implications for environmental protection and public health Frontiers in Public Health Ambient Air Quality Standard green innovation environmental protection public health difference-in-difference model compliance cost effect |
| title | Does ambient air quality standard contribute to green innovation of enterprises in China? Implications for environmental protection and public health |
| title_full | Does ambient air quality standard contribute to green innovation of enterprises in China? Implications for environmental protection and public health |
| title_fullStr | Does ambient air quality standard contribute to green innovation of enterprises in China? Implications for environmental protection and public health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does ambient air quality standard contribute to green innovation of enterprises in China? Implications for environmental protection and public health |
| title_short | Does ambient air quality standard contribute to green innovation of enterprises in China? Implications for environmental protection and public health |
| title_sort | does ambient air quality standard contribute to green innovation of enterprises in china implications for environmental protection and public health |
| topic | Ambient Air Quality Standard green innovation environmental protection public health difference-in-difference model compliance cost effect |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.997864/full |
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