IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/engenv/v35y2024i8p4176-4194.html

The ecological accountability reform and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from a policy shock

Author

Listed:
  • Sheng Liu
  • Xin Gu
  • Xiuying Chen

Abstract

The ecological accountability reform is an emerging environmental regulatory tool used by transition economies to correct failures and deviations in the traditional central-local environmental governance mode. This paper applies the propensity score matching with difference-in-differences method to test the impact of the central environmental inspection, an ecological accountability mechanism, on the investment efficiency of enterprises. The results reveal that the central environmental inspection can improve the corporate investment efficiency by resisting the urge to over-investment. Furthermore, this policy can improve corporate investment efficiency by dual functions of the incentive effect of increasing R&D investment and the pushback effect of financial risk. After a series of robustness checks, the results remained reliable. Heterogeneity tests show that the effect gradually appears in regions that implemented policy lately or with re-inspection, indicating the necessity of establishing a long-term mechanism. What's more, the positive effect of the central environmental inspection on corporate investment efficiency will be more significant in SOEs, large companies, and companies in provinces with weak environmental regulations. To achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, this paper provides implications for improving collaborative governance system of local environmental protection and strengthening the linkage of environmental regulation and enterprise investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Sheng Liu & Xin Gu & Xiuying Chen, 2024. "The ecological accountability reform and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from a policy shock," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(8), pages 4176-4194, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:35:y:2024:i:8:p:4176-4194
    DOI: 10.1177/0958305X231177729
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0958305X231177729
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0958305X231177729?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    2. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    3. Rui Albuquerue & Neng Wang, 2015. "Agency Conflicts, Investment, and Asset Pricing: Erratum," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(5), pages 2347-2348, October.
    4. Li, Guangpei & Wang, Xiaoyu & Su, Shibin & Su, Yuan, 2019. "How green technological innovation ability influences enterprise competitiveness," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    5. Huwei Wen & Weifeng Deng & Quanen Guo, 2021. "The effects of the environmental protection tax law on heavily polluting firms in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Kirsten A. Cook & Andrea M. Romi & Daniela Sánchez & Juan Manuel Sánchez, 2019. "The influence of corporate social responsibility on investment efficiency and innovation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3-4), pages 494-537, March.
    7. Li Liu & Gary Gang Tian, 2021. "Mandatory CSR disclosure, monitoring and investment efficiency: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 595-644, March.
    8. Sascha O. Becker & Andrea Ichino, 2002. "Estimation of average treatment effects based on propensity scores," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 2(4), pages 358-377, November.
    9. Hu, Guoqiang & Wang, Xiaoqi & Wang, Yu, 2021. "Can the green credit policy stimulate green innovation in heavily polluting enterprises? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(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. Li, Cheng & Li, Tao & Zhao, Shengkun & Zhao, Xuankai, 2025. "The financial benefits of digital technology adoption: Evidence from large language model," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

    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. Yadong Wang & Khaldoon Albitar & Imad Chbib, 2024. "Connecting the dots: A systematic review of corporate social responsibility, information asymmetry, and economic implications," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 5012-5031, September.
    2. Caixe, Daniel Ferreira, 2025. "Policy uncertainty and cash holdings: The role of corporate governance in Brazil," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Nazari, Jamal A. & Poursoleyman, Ehsan, 2025. "Beyond the tipping point: The nonlinear impact of material sustainability on investment efficiency," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. Assil Guizani & Hamza Nizar & Faten Lakhal & Taher Hamza & Ramzi Benkraiem, 2025. "Does climate risk vulnerability affect the value of excess cash? International evidence," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(3), pages 2662-2681, July.
    5. Yadong Wang & Khaldoon Albitar & Imad Chbib, 2025. "A Novel Metric for Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Its Impact on Investment Inefficiency," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(3), pages 3003-3030, July.
    6. Pellicani, Aline Damasceno & Kalatzis, Aquiles Elie Guimarães, 2019. "Ownership structure, overinvestment and underinvestment: Evidence from Brazil," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 475-482.
    7. Zhang, Chenrui & Wang, Yatong, 2024. "Is enterprise digital transformation beneficial to shareholders? Insights from the cost of equity capital," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Jaehong Lee & Eunsoo Kim, 2020. "The Influence of Corporate Environmental Responsibility on Overinvestment Behavior: Evidence from South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Ijaz Ur Rehman & Faisal Shahzad & Khawaja Fawad Latif & Noman Nawab & Abdul Rashid & Shabir Hyder, 2021. "Does corporate social responsibility mediate the influence of national culture on investment inefficiency? Firm‐level evidence from Asia Pacific," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3484-3503, July.
    10. Lin, Yu-En & Teng, Shi & Yu, Bo & Lam, Keith S.K., 2025. "ESG rating, rating divergence and investment efficiency: International evidence," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    11. Bilyay-Erdogan, Seda & Danisman, Gamze Ozturk & Demir, Ender, 2024. "ESG performance and investment efficiency: The impact of information asymmetry," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    12. Fonseka, Mohan & Samarakoon, Lalith P. & Tian, Gao-Liang & Seng, Ratney, 2021. "The impact of social trust and state ownership on investment efficiency of Chinese firms," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Yu, Chang, 2023. "Board gender diversity and investment inefficiency," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    14. Di Xiao & Xinyu Yu, 2025. "How do credit ratings affect corporate investment efficiency?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 330-351, January.
    15. Leonard Leye Li & Gary S. Monroe & Jeff Coulton, 2023. "Managerial litigation risk and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from universal demand laws," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 196-232, March.
    16. Claire Economidou & Dimitrios Gounopoulos & Dimitrios Konstantios & Emmanuel Tsiritakis, 2023. "Is sustainability rating material to the market?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 127-179, March.
    17. Jozef Drienko & Stephen J. Sault & Wai Han Wong, 2024. "Do rights matter? An intraday analysis of rights issues in Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(2), pages 1311-1333, June.
    18. Anagnostopoulou, Seraina C. & Trigeorgis, Lenos & Tsekrekos, Andrianos E., 2023. "Enhancement in a firm's information environment via options trading and the efficiency of corporate investment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    19. Karim Ben Khediri, 2021. "CSR and investment efficiency in Western European countries," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1769-1784, November.
    20. Heshu Huang & Yuchen Zou & Liukai Wang & Weiqing Wang & Xiaohong Ren, 2025. "Impact of carbon information disclosure on corporate financing constraints: Evidence from the Carbon Disclosure Project," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 50(1), pages 104-131, February.

    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:sae:engenv:v:35:y:2024:i:8:p:4176-4194. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.