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Greening through central inspection: The role of legitimacy pressure and risk-taking

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  • Kopyrina, Olga
  • Wu, Kai
  • Ying, Zhanyu

Abstract

We evaluate the effect of the Central Environmental Protection Inspection (CEPI) in China on green innovation for Chinese A-share firms from 2008 to 2019. The results of the difference-in-differences estimation show that the CEPI has a long-term positive effect on corporate green innovation in the form of green patents. The CEPI influences corporate green innovation through legitimacy pressure and value-enhancing corporate risk-taking. The positive effect is more pronounced in the provinces which are relatively more developed and less dependent on the secondary industry. Moreover, this effect is primarily driven by overcompliance motive and is visible in firms with better internal governance, state-controlled firms, and firms with political connections. Our findings demonstrate the impact of campaign-style central supervision on corporate innovation policy.

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  • Kopyrina, Olga & Wu, Kai & Ying, Zhanyu, 2023. "Greening through central inspection: The role of legitimacy pressure and risk-taking," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:77:y:2023:i:c:s0927538x22001895
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2022.101894
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    Cited by:

    1. Mingze Du & Tongwei Zhang & Dehui Wang, 2023. "Can China’s Campaign-Style Environmental Regulation Improve the Green Total Factor Productivity?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-20, December.

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    Keywords

    Central environmental protection inspection; Green innovation; Legitimacy pressure; Corporate risk-taking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies

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