IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v86y2025icp117-136.html

How green bonds exert a demonstration effect on firms within the same region

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Chengming
  • Guo, Guanyu
  • Gu, Huangying
  • Dong, Xiaoqi

Abstract

This study investigates the regional demonstration effect of green bond (GB) issuance on conventional bond markets in China. Despite the growing importance of GBs in sustainable finance, their limited market penetration raises questions about their broader impact. This research addresses the gap in understanding how GBs influence neighboring firms' green practices and conventional bond credit spreads (CSs), crucial for enhancing China's green financial system. Utilizing a multi-phase difference-in-differences framework, we analyze data from Chinese listed companies (2010–2022), this study examines the regional demonstration effect of green bond (GB) issuance on conventional bond markets in China. Employing a multi-phase difference-in-differences framework, the analysis reveals that the issuance of GBs by firms significantly reduces the credit spreads (CSs) of conventional bonds issued by other enterprises within the same region. This reduction is driven by strategic and substantive green imitation behaviors, where neighboring firms enhance their green practices to achieve financial benefits. The study identifies heterogeneity in the demonstration effect: firms in non-heavy-polluting industries, provincial capital cities, and non-state-owned enterprises exhibit stronger green imitation capacities, while those in highly competitive industries, financially distressed conditions, and non-western regions demonstrate greater willingness to engage in green imitation. In addition, this paper categorizes green imitation into benchmarking-driven imitation based on the information cascade theory and competition-driven imitation based on the homogeneous strategy theory according to different motivations for imitation, with the latter having a greater impact on green imitation. The findings highlight GBs’ positive externalities, demonstrating their role in incentivizing regional green transitions and reducing financing costs for conventional bonds. Policymakers should leverage GBs’ demonstration effect through targeted incentives, enhanced environmental disclosure mandates, and inter-firm collaboration. This study advances green finance literature by linking GBs to conventional bond markets and elucidating imitation mechanisms, offering actionable insights for sustainable economic transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Chengming & Guo, Guanyu & Gu, Huangying & Dong, Xiaoqi, 2025. "How green bonds exert a demonstration effect on firms within the same region," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 117-136.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:86:y:2025:i:c:p:117-136
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2025.03.024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0313592625000967
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2025.03.024?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohammed Benlemlih & J. Jaballah & L. Kermiche, 2023. "Does Financing Strategy Accelerate Corporate Energy Transition? Evidence from Green Bonds," Post-Print hal-04434020, HAL.
    2. Wang, Chih-Wei & Wu, Yu-Ching & Hsieh, Hsin-Yi & Huang, Po-Hsiang & Lin, Meng-Chieh, 2022. "Does green bond issuance have an impact on climate risk concerns?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    3. Rannou, Yves & Boutabba, Mohamed Amine & Barneto, Pascal, 2021. "Are Green Bond and Carbon Markets in Europe complements or substitutes? Insights from the activity of power firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    4. Dong, Xiao & Yu, Mingzhe, 2024. "Green bond issuance and green innovation: Evidence from China's energy industry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    5. Xu, Guoquan & Lu, Nuotian & Tong, Yan, 2022. "Greenwashing and credit spread: Evidence from the Chinese green bond market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    6. Chen, Lifeng & Wang, Kaifeng, 2022. "The spatial spillover effect of low-carbon city pilot scheme on green efficiency in China's cities: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    7. Mohammed Benlemlih & Jamil Jaballah & Lamya Kermiche, 2023. "Does financing strategy accelerate corporate energy transition? Evidence from green bonds," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 878-889, January.
    8. Jie Cao & Hao Liang & Xintong Zhan, 2019. "Peer Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5487-5503, December.
    9. Xu, Xinkuo & Li, Jingsi, 2023. "Can green bonds reduce the carbon emissions of cities in China?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    10. Aidt, Toke S., 1998. "Political internalization of economic externalities and environmental policy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 1-16, July.
    11. Madurika Nanayakkara & Sisira Colombage, 2019. "Do investors in Green Bond market pay a premium? Global evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(40), pages 4425-4437, August.
    12. Dong, Xiaotian & Wang, Kai-Hua & Tao, Ran & Sorana, Vătavu & Moldovan, Nicoleta-Claudia, 2024. "Is there a relationship between climate policy uncertainty and green finance? Evidence from bootstrap rolling window test," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 277-289.
    13. Joao Leitao & Joaquim Ferreira & Ernesto Santibanez‐Gonzalez, 2021. "Green bonds, sustainable development and environmental policy in the European Union carbon market," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 2077-2090, May.
    14. Sangiorgi, Ivan & Schopohl, Lisa, 2021. "Why do institutional investors buy green bonds: Evidence from a survey of European asset managers," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    15. Cen, Yu & Yin, Jinpeng, 2024. "Navigating climate challenges: Focusing on the effectiveness of natural resource rents, fintech, green finance, environmental quality, and digitalisation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    16. Zerbib, Olivier David, 2019. "The effect of pro-environmental preferences on bond prices: Evidence from green bonds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 39-60.
    17. Ming-Jer Chen & Danny Miller, 2015. "Reconceptualizing competitive dynamics: A multidimensional framework," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 758-775, May.
    18. Smith, Vincent H. & Kehoe, Michael R. & Cremer, Mary E., 1995. "The private provision of public goods: Altruism and voluntary giving," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 107-126, September.
    19. Cheng, Zhonghua & Yu, Xuejin & Zhang, Yi, 2023. "Is the construction of new energy demonstration cities conducive to improvements in energy efficiency?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PA).
    20. Serena Fatica & Roberto Panzica, 2021. "Green bonds as a tool against climate change?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2688-2701, July.
    21. Cleaver, Harry M, Jr, 1972. "The Contradictions of the Green Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(2), pages 177-186, May.
    22. Cui, Jingbo & Dai, Jing & Wang, Zhenxuan & Zhao, Xiande, 2022. "Does Environmental Regulation Induce Green Innovation? A Panel Study of Chinese Listed Firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    23. Sheng Fang & Dean Xu & Lixin Colin Xu & Heba Shams, 2023. "Does FDI have a social demonstration effect in developing economies? Evidence based on the presence of women-led local firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(7), pages 1332-1350, September.
    24. Glenn Ellison & Drew Fudenberg, 1995. "Word-of-Mouth Communication and Social Learning," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(1), pages 93-125.
    25. García, C. José & Herrero, Begoña & Miralles-Quirós, José Luis & del Mar Mirallles-Quirós, Maria, 2023. "Exploring the determinants of corporate green bond issuance and its environmental implication: The role of corporate board," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    26. Liu, Guangqiang & Yang, Zhiqing & Zhang, Fan & Zhang, Nan, 2022. "Environmental tax reform and environmental investment: A quasi-natural experiment based on China's Environmental Protection Tax Law," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    27. Zheng, Jinlin & Jiang, Yaohui & Cui, Yadong & Shen, Yue, 2023. "Green bond issuance and corporate ESG performance: Steps toward green and low-carbon development," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    28. Yassin Denis Bouzzine & Rainer Lueg, 2020. "The contagion effect of environmental violations: The case of Dieselgate in Germany," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3187-3202, December.
    29. Wang, Jiazhen & Chen, Xin & Li, Xiaoxia & Yu, Jing & Zhong, Rui, 2020. "The market reaction to green bond issuance: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    30. Shanshan Wang & Shih‐Chih Chen & Mohd Helmi Ali & Ming‐Lang Tseng, 2024. "Nexus of environmental, social, and governance performance in China‐listed companies: Disclosure and green bond issuance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 1647-1660, March.
    31. Kaustia, Markku & Rantala, Ville, 2015. "Social learning and corporate peer effects," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 653-669.
    32. Heinkel, Robert & Kraus, Alan & Zechner, Josef, 2001. "The Effect of Green Investment on Corporate Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 431-449, December.
    33. Li, Chengcheng & Wang, Xiaoqiong, 2022. "Local peer effects of corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    34. Wu, Sheng & Zhou, Xiaoyong, 2024. "A theoretical framework for modeling dual-track granting orientation in green credit policy," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 249-268.
    35. Edward I. Altman, 2013. "Predicting financial distress of companies: revisiting the Z-Score and ZETA® models," Chapters, in: Adrian R. Bell & Chris Brooks & Marcel Prokopczuk (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Empirical Finance, chapter 17, pages 428-456, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    36. Kenneth G. Elzinga & David E. Mills, 2011. "The Lerner Index of Monopoly Power: Origins and Uses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 558-564, May.
    37. Tang, Dragon Yongjun & Zhang, Yupu, 2020. "Do shareholders benefit from green bonds?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    38. Flammer, Caroline, 2021. "Corporate green bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 499-516.
    39. Yunfei An & Xunpeng Shi & Qunwei Wang & Jian Yu & Dequn Zhou & Xiaoyong Zhou, 2023. "China's manufacturing firms' willingness to pay for carbon abatement: A cost perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5477-5486, December.
    40. He, Ling & Dai, Peng-Fei & Hu, Shiyang & Gan, Shengdao, 2024. "Do green bond issuers walk the talk? Exploring the alignment between green bond issuance and subsequent green investment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    41. Yu, Wantao & Ramanathan, Ramakrishnan & Nath, Prithwiraj, 2017. "Environmental pressures and performance: An analysis of the roles of environmental innovation strategy and marketing capability," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 160-169.
    42. Bikhchandani, Sushil & Hirshleifer, David & Welch, Ivo, 1992. "A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change in Informational Cascades," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 992-1026, October.
    43. Zhong, Wei & Yuan, Wei & Li, Susan X. & Huang, Zhimin, 2011. "The performance evaluation of regional R&D investments in China: An application of DEA based on the first official China economic census data," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 447-455, August.
    44. Bhutta, Umair Saeed & Tariq, Adeel & Farrukh, Muhammad & Raza, Ali & Iqbal, Muhammad Khalid, 2022. "Green bonds for sustainable development: Review of literature on development and impact of green bonds," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    45. Peng, Wei & Xiong, Langyu, 2022. "Managing financing costs and fostering green transition: The role of green financial policy in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 820-836.
    46. Song, Yang & Pang, Xiaoqian & Zhang, Zhiyuan & Sahut, Jean-Michel, 2024. "Can the new energy demonstration city policy promote corporate green innovation capability?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    47. Tang, Xinmeng & Zhou, Xiaoguang, 2023. "Impact of green finance on renewable energy development: A spatiotemporal consistency perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 320-337.
    48. Lv, Yan & Wang, Fan & Liu, Guoliang & Ren, Ruixue, 2024. "The impact of environmental court construction on the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PC).
    49. Dongmin Kong & Shasha Liu & Yunhao Dai, 2014. "Environmental Policy, Company Environment Protection, and Stock Market Performance: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 100-112, March.
    50. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    51. Gan, Xiao Dong & Zheng, Xiao Yu & Li, Cong Cong & Zhu, Gui Qin, 2024. "Green bond issuance and trade credit access: Evidence from Chinese bond market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    52. Lai, Jinming & Liu, Xin & Yuan, Lu, 2024. "Can green credit policy increase corporate pollution abatement efforts? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 797-813.
    53. Liu, Sibo & Wu, Dejun, 2016. "Competing by conducting good deeds: The peer effect of corporate social responsibility," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 47-54.
    54. Abhijit V. Banerjee, 1992. "A Simple Model of Herd Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 797-817.
    55. Alessi, Lucia & Ossola, Elisa & Panzica, Roberto, 2021. "What greenium matters in the stock market? The role of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental disclosures," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    56. Gary Hamel, 1991. "Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S1), pages 83-103, June.
    57. Tullock, Gordon, 1971. "Public Decisions as Public Goods," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(4), pages 913-918, July-Aug..
    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. Qi, Qiuyue & Lu, Ping & Zhao, Xiangru, 2025. "Corporate carbon regulation, green innovation and supply chain spillover," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 4(5).

    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. Deng, Yang & Zhang, Zhaoqin, 2025. "The spillover effects of green bond issuance in peer firms’ financial performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(PA).
    2. Ruan, Qingsong & Li, Chengyu & Lv, Dayong & Wei, Xiaokun, 2025. "Going Green: Effect of green bond issuance on corporate debt financing costs," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(PA).
    3. Yang, Minhua & Ma, Linkun & Gu, Yan & Wu, Wenfeng, 2025. "The impacts of green bonds on the green innovation: Evidence from the corporate green transformation in China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Bi, Shenghao & Appolloni, Andrea & Zhang, Wanying & Yan, Zhenjun & Du, Jiang, 2026. "Impact of green bond issuance on energy intensity: Evidence from new energy enterprises," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Joel, Tchuiendem Nelly & Zheng, Haitao & Liu, Bing-Yue, 2025. "Cross-region analysis of the environmental performance of green bond issuers," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Zhang, Hua & Guo, Zheng, 2026. "Green money talks: Does green bond issuance promote corporate green governance?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Wang, Shiqi & Wang, Yongqiao, 2026. "The impact of green bond issuances on green mergers and acquisitions of peer firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    8. Mingyu Hu & Xinyin Zhang & Yeyu Zhang, 2025. "The spillover effect of green bond issuance on corporate financial performances: evidence from China," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 1567-1593, May.
    9. Jinyu Chen & Yan Yang & Ran Liu & Yuan Geng & Xiaohang Ren, 2023. "Green bond issuance and corporate ESG performance: the perspective of internal attention and external supervision," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    10. Zenno, Yoshihiro & Aruga, Kentaka, 2023. "Investing the factors affecting green bond investments in China: Cases for Beijing and Shenzhen," MPRA Paper 116203, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Khan, Muhammad Arif & Vismara, Silvio, 2025. "Green bond issuance and corporate environmental and financial performance: A meta-analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    12. Cotugno, Matteo & Fiorillo, Paolo & Monferrà, Stefano & Severini, Sabrina, 2025. "ESG incidents and corporate green bond market reaction," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Zhang, Chaoyu, 2025. "Green bonds and environmental violations in financially constrained environments," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    14. Li, Jiansheng & Song, Siyang & Wang, Yan, 2026. "Green bond issuance and corporate ESG performance—Evidence from the perspective of unlabeled green bonds in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    15. Lin, Boqiang & Su, Tong, 2022. "Green bond vs conventional bond: Outline the rationale behind issuance choices in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    16. Mustafa Tevfik Kartal & Ugur Korkut Pata & Andrew Adewale Alola, 2025. "Impact of green bonds on CO2 emissions and disaggregated level renewable electricity in China and the United States of America," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Pengfei Ge & Chuxiong Tang & Yuhui Chen & Yichao Liu & Rui Zhu, 2025. "Green Bonds: Greenwashing or Genuinely Green? A Study Based on Stock Mispricing," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(6), pages 3396-3413, September.
    18. Christnacht, Lukas & Mertzanis, Charilaos, 2025. "Foreign direct investment, technology transfer and the global issuance of green bonds," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    19. Chang, Kaiwen & Luo, Dan & Xing, Kai & Mi, Biao, 2025. "The effectiveness of the green bond instrument on stimulating firms' green innovation performance: A comparative study based on Chinese market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    20. Vilija Aleknevičien&# & Asta Bendoraityt&#, 2023. "Role of Green Finance in Greening the Economy: Conceptual Approach," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(2), pages 105-130.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:ecanpo:v:86:y:2025:i:c:p:117-136. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    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.