IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i18p11522-d914590.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Green Technology Innovation: Evidence from China’s Enterprises

Author

Listed:
  • Xuan Yang

    (Nanyang Technopreneurship Center, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637553, Singapore)

  • Shihao Mao

    (Nanyang Technopreneurship Center, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637553, Singapore)

  • Luxuan Sun

    (China-UK Low Carbon College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 201306, China)

  • Chao Feng

    (School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China)

  • Yinshuang Xia

    (School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China)

Abstract

In some cases, enterprise fears uncertainty more than the policy itself, and this fear can impede innovation. However, this study finds that uncertainty is the source of enterprise’s innovation. We took Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2018 as the research sample and studied the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on green technology innovation (GTI). Based on China’s EPU index and green patent-application data of Chinese-listed enterprises, this study adopted a panel fixed regression model and found that EPU has a slightly promoting effect on GTI of Chinese-listed enterprises. This effect is also affected by enterprise ownership and industry characteristics. Among them, EPU has a stronger promoting effect on GTI activities of state-owned enterprises and high-tech enterprises than common enterprises. In particular, if EPU increases, the GTI of high-polluting enterprises is not as great as the incentive effect of ordinary enterprises. The reasons may be that state-owned enterprises have more implicit capital guarantees, high-tech enterprises have higher innovation motivation, and high-polluting enterprises have stronger dependence on traditional production equipment. These results can provide a reference for the debate on “uncertainty.” The conclusions of this paper contain unique policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuan Yang & Shihao Mao & Luxuan Sun & Chao Feng & Yinshuang Xia, 2022. "The Effect of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Green Technology Innovation: Evidence from China’s Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:18:p:11522-:d:914590
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/18/11522/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/18/11522/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marit E. Klemetsen & Brita Bye & Arvid Raknerud, 2018. "Can Direct Regulations Spur Innovations in Environmental Technologies? A Study on Firm‐Level Patenting," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 120(2), pages 338-371, April.
    2. Lingli Qing & Dongphil Chun & Young-Seok Ock & Abd Alwahed Dagestani & Xiang Ma, 2022. "What Myths about Green Technology Innovation and Financial Performance’s Relationship? A Bibliometric Analysis Review," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Hummera saleem & Wen Jiandong & Muhammad Bilal Khan, 2018. "The impact of economic policy uncertainty on the innovation in China: Empirical evidence from autoregressive distributed lag bounds tests," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 1514929-151, January.
    4. Ming Yi & Xiaomeng Fang & Le Wen & Fengtao Guang & Yao Zhang, 2019. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Different Environmental Policy Instruments on Green Technology Innovation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-19, November.
    5. Zhu, Yanli & Sun, Yingnan & Xiang, Xinyu, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and enterprise value: Evidence from Chinese listed enterprises," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(4).
    6. Al-Thaqeb, Saud Asaad & Algharabali, Barrak Ghanim, 2019. "Economic policy uncertainty: A literature review," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    7. Yong Fang & Zhenquan Shao, 2022. "Whether Green Finance Can Effectively Moderate the Green Technology Innovation Effect of Heterogeneous Environmental Regulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-19, March.
    8. Cui, Xin & Wang, Chunfeng & Liao, Jing & Fang, Zhenming & Cheng, Feiyang, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty exposure and corporate innovation investment: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    10. Nick Bloom, 2007. "Uncertainty and the Dynamics of R&D," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 250-255, May.
    11. Reza Tajaddini & Hassan F. Gholipour, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty, R&D expenditures and innovation outputs," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 48(2), pages 413-427, June.
    12. Brandon Julio & Youngsuk Yook, 2012. "Political Uncertainty and Corporate Investment Cycles," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 45-84, February.
    13. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Tian, Xuan & Xu, Yan, 2017. "What Affects Innovation More: Policy or Policy Uncertainty?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(5), pages 1869-1901, October.
    14. Xunan Feng & Y. Ling Lo & Kam C. Chan, 2022. "Impact of economic policy uncertainty on cash holdings: firm-level evidence from an emerging market," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 363-385, March.
    15. Pei-Fen Chen & Chien-Chiang Lee & Jhih-Hong Zeng, 2019. "Economic policy uncertainty and firm investment: evidence from the U.S. market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(31), pages 3423-3435, July.
    16. Hui Jiang & Caiyun Liu, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty, CEO characteristics and firm R&D expenditure: a Bayesian analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(34), pages 3709-3731, July.
    17. Kyle Jurado & Sydney C. Ludvigson & Serena Ng, 2015. "Measuring Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(3), pages 1177-1216, March.
    18. Cheng, Feiyang & Wang, Chunfeng & Cui, Xin & Wu, Ji & He, Feng, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty exposure and stock price bubbles: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    19. Xin Su & Shengshi Zhou & Rui Xue & Jinfang Tian, 2020. "Does economic policy uncertainty raise corporate precautionary cash holdings? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(5), pages 4567-4592, December.
    20. Liu, Guanchun & Zhang, Chengsi, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and firms' investment and financing decisions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    21. Xin Cui & Shouyu Yao & Zhenming Fang & Hua Wang, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty exposure and earnings management: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 3937-3976, September.
    22. Liu, Guanchun & Hu, May & Cheng, Chen, 2021. "The information transfer effects of political connections on mitigating policy uncertainty: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    23. Arif Khan, Muhammad & Qin, Xuezhi & Jebran, Khalil & Ullah, Irfan, 2020. "Uncertainty and R&D investment: Does product market competition matter?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    24. Nicholas Bloom, 2009. "The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 623-685, May.
    25. Tingyong Zhong & Yimeng Zuo & Fangcheng Sun & Jeoung Yul Lee, 2020. "Customer Concentration, Economic Policy Uncertainty and Enterprise Sustainable Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, February.
    26. Jiang, Xiandeng & Kong, Dongming & Xiao, Chengrui, 2020. "Policy certainty and heterogeneous firm innovation: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    27. Dibiasi, Andreas & Abberger, Klaus & Siegenthaler, Michael & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2018. "The effects of policy uncertainty on investment: Evidence from the unexpected acceptance of a far-reaching referendum in Switzerland," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 38-67.
    28. Lv, Chengchao & Shao, Changhua & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2021. "Green technology innovation and financial development: Do environmental regulation and innovation output matter?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    29. Min Hong & Zhenghui Li & Benjamin Drakeford, 2021. "Do the Green Credit Guidelines Affect Corporate Green Technology Innovation? Empirical Research from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-21, February.
    30. Ji Wu & Jing Zhang & Shiyu Zhang & Liping Zou, 2020. "The economic policy uncertainty and firm investment in Australia," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(31), pages 3354-3378, June.
    31. Guanghua Xie & Jianlin Chen & Ying Hao & Jing Lu, 2021. "Economic Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Investment Behavior: Evidence from China’s Five-Year Plan Cycles," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(10), pages 2977-2994, August.
    32. Shihong Zeng & Gen Li & Shaomin Wu & Zhanfeng Dong, 2022. "The Impact of Green Technology Innovation on Carbon Emissions in the Context of Carbon Neutrality in China: Evidence from Spatial Spillover and Nonlinear Effect Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-25, January.
    33. Aijun Guo & Haiqi Wei & Fanglei Zhong & Shuangshuang Liu & Chunlin Huang, 2020. "Enterprise Sustainability: Economic Policy Uncertainty, Enterprise Investment, and Profitability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-22, May.
    34. Nalin Kulatilaka & Enrico C. Perotti, 1998. "Strategic Growth Options," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(8), pages 1021-1031, August.
    35. Daniel Dejuan-Bitria & Corinna Ghirelli, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and investment in Spain," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 351-388, September.
    36. Xu, Zhaoxia, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty, cost of capital, and corporate innovation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huanan Sun & Lianmei Zhu & Anqi Wang & Shali Wang & Haijing Ma, 2022. "Analysis of Regional Social Capital, Enterprise Green Innovation and Green Total Factor Productivity—Based on Chinese A-Share Listed Companies from 2011 to 2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Huafang Huang & Sharafat Ali & Yasir Ahmed Solangi, 2023. "Analysis of the Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Environmental Sustainability in Developed and Developing Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Xu Luo & Mengke Yu & Yongsheng Jin, 2023. "The Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Enterprise Green Innovation: A Study on the Moderating Effect of Carbon Information Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Suyi Zheng & Jiandong Wen, 2023. "How Does Firm-Level Economic Policy Uncertainty Affect Corporate Innovation? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, April.
    2. Fengxiu Zhou & Chien-Chiang Lee, 2023. "Political uncertainty and innovation of export enterprises: international evidence for developing countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4371-4400, December.
    3. Guan, Jialin & Xu, Huijuan & Huo, Da & Hua, Yechun & Wang, Yunfeng, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate innovation: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    4. Wei-Fong Pan, 2019. "Geopolitical Risk and R&D investment," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2019-11, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    5. Shams, Syed & Gunaskerage, Abeyratna & Velayutham, Eswaran, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and acquisition performance: Australian evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 286-308.
    6. Shabir, Mohsin & Jiang, Ping & Bakhsh, Satar & Zhao, Zhongxiu, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and bank stability: Threshold effect of institutional quality and competition," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Wen, Huwei & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Zhou, Fengxiu, 2022. "How does fiscal policy uncertainty affect corporate innovation investment? Evidence from China's new energy industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    8. Wan, Qunchao & Chen, Jin & Yao, Zhu & Yuan, Ling, 2022. "Preferential tax policy and R&D personnel flow for technological innovation efficiency of China's high-tech industry in an emerging economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    9. Nguyen, Duc Nguyen & Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Dang, Le Phuong Xuan, 2022. "Uncertainty and corporate default risk: Novel evidence from emerging markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Pinar Sener & Fatma Didin Sonmez & Elvin Tigrel, 2022. "The impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate diversification: evidence from Latin american emerging economies," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(2), pages 1110-1123.
    11. Vo, Hong & Trinh, Quoc-Dat & Le, Minh & Nguyen, Thuy-Ngan, 2021. "Does economic policy uncertainty affect investment sensitivity to peer stock prices?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 685-699.
    12. Cao, Yang & Chen, Yinghui & Zhang, Yuhe, 2022. "Political uncertainty, innovation-driven strategy, and corporate R&D," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    13. Cui, Xin & Wang, Chunfeng & Liao, Jing & Fang, Zhenming & Cheng, Feiyang, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty exposure and corporate innovation investment: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Liu, Tingli & Chen, Xiao & Yang, Songling, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and enterprise investment decision: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    15. Chada, Swechha, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainties and institutional ownership in India," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    16. Yuchen Lin & Daxin Dong & Jiaxin Wang, 2021. "The Negative Impact of Uncertainty on R&D Investment: International Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.
    17. Caroline PERRIN & Laurent WEILL, 2021. "Girls Will Be Girls? The Gendered Effect of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Corporate Investment," Working Papers of LaRGE Research Center 2021-04, Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (LaRGE), Université de Strasbourg.
    18. Yuan, Tiezhen & Wu, Ji (George) & Qin, Ni & Xu, Jian, 2022. "Being nice to stakeholders: The effect of economic policy uncertainty on corporate social responsibility," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    19. Saud Asaad Al‐Thaqeb & Barrak Ghanim Algharabali & Khaled Tareq Alabdulghafour, 2022. "The pandemic and economic policy uncertainty," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 2784-2794, July.
    20. Ferguson, Andrew & Hu, Wei & Lam, Peter, 2022. "Political uncertainty and deal structure: Evidence from Australian mining project acquisitions," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:18:p:11522-:d:914590. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.