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Environmental regulation and productivity growth in the euro area: testing the Porter hypothesis

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  • Benatti, Nicola
  • Groiss, Martin
  • Kelly, Petra
  • Lopez-Garcia, Paloma

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact of changes in environmental regulations on productivity growth at country- and firm-level. We exploit several data sources and the environmen-tal policy stringency index, to evaluate the Porter hypothesis, according to which firms’ productivity can benefit from more stringent environmental policies. By using panel local projections, we estimate the regulatory impact over a five-year horizon. The identification of causal impacts of regulatory changes is achieved by the estimation of firms’ CO2 emissions via a machine learning algorithm. At country- and firm-level, policy tightening affects high-polluters’ productivity negatively and stronger than their less-polluting peers. However, among high-polluting firms, large ones experience positive total factor productivity growth due to easier access to finance and greater innovativeness. Hence, we do not find support for the Porter hypothesis in general. However for technology support policies and firms with the required resources, policy tightening can enhance productivity. JEL Classification: O44, Q52, Q58

Suggested Citation

  • Benatti, Nicola & Groiss, Martin & Kelly, Petra & Lopez-Garcia, Paloma, 2023. "Environmental regulation and productivity growth in the euro area: testing the Porter hypothesis," Working Paper Series 2820, European Central Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20232820
    Note: 2211572
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    Cited by:

    1. Richhild Moessner, 2024. "Effects of Green Technology Support Policies on Carbon Dioxide Emissions," CESifo Working Paper Series 11047, CESifo.
    2. Benincasa, Emanuela & Betz, Frank & Gattini, Luca, 2024. "How do firms cope with losses from extreme weather events?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Benatti, Nicola & Groiss, Martin & Kelly, Petra & Lopez-Garcia, Paloma, 2024. "The impact of environmental regulation on clean innovation: are there crowding out effects?," Working Paper Series 2946, European Central Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    emissions; environmental regulation; euro area; Porter hypothesis; productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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