IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v75y2022ics1043951x22001031.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding the investment of renewable energy firms in the face of economic policy uncertainty – Micro-evidence from listed companies in China

Author

Listed:
  • Lin, Boqiang
  • Li, Minyang

Abstract

With the development of renewable energy, the current support for China's renewable energy industry has gradually shifted from “helping its development and expansion” to “helping it resists systemic risks and strengthens market competition”. Therefore, there is an urgent need to study how the strategic investment of renewable energy companies is affected by economic policy uncertainty. This paper first robustly explores the non-linear relationship between strategic investment and economic policy uncertainty of Chinese renewable energy enterprises. Then from the three perspectives of the relationship between the government and renewable energy enterprises, the characteristics of renewable energy enterprises, the response of the product market and financial market to renewable energy, this paper innovatively explores how different dimensions will adjust the non-linear relationship between strategic investment of renewable energy enterprises and economic policy uncertainty. The analysis in this paper closely relies on the characteristics of the renewable energy industry at this stage, so our conclusion can provide a reference for the government to formulate the development plan of renewable energy enterprises scientifically and prudently.

Suggested Citation

  • Lin, Boqiang & Li, Minyang, 2022. "Understanding the investment of renewable energy firms in the face of economic policy uncertainty – Micro-evidence from listed companies in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:75:y:2022:i:c:s1043951x22001031
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2022.101845
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X22001031
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2022.101845?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Mortha, Aline & Farabi-Asl, Hadi & Sarker, Tapan & Chapman, Andrew & Shigetomi, Yosuke & Fraser, Timothy, 2020. "Role of energy finance in geothermal power development in Japan," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 398-412.
    2. Jia, Zhijie & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "The impact of removing cross subsidies in electric power industry in China: Welfare, economy, and CO2 emission," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    3. Özdemir, Özge & Hobbs, Benjamin F. & van Hout, Marit & Koutstaal, Paul R., 2020. "Capacity vs energy subsidies for promoting renewable investment: Benefits and costs for the EU power market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Luigi Guiso & Giuseppe Parigi, 1999. "Investment and Demand Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 185-227.
    5. Abel, Andrew B. & Eberly, Janice C., 1999. "The effects of irreversibility and uncertainty on capital accumulation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 339-377, December.
    6. Marquis, M Susan & Holmer, Martin R, 1996. "Alternative Models of Choice under Uncertainty and Demand for Health Insurance," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(3), pages 421-427, August.
    7. Hou, Fei & Tang, Wenjie & Wang, Huabing & Xiong, Hao, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty, marketization level and firm-level inefficient investment: Evidence from Chinese listed firms in energy and power industries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    8. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    9. Belo, Frederico & Gala, Vito D. & Li, Jun, 2013. "Government spending, political cycles, and the cross section of stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 305-324.
    10. Ellis, Randall P, 1989. "Employee Choice of Health Insurance," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(2), pages 215-223, May.
    11. Sai Ding & John Knight & Xiao Zhang, 2019. "Does China overinvest? Evidence from a panel of Chinese firms," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 489-507, April.
    12. Deng, Lu & Li, Sifei & Liao, Mingqing & Wu, Weixing, 2013. "Dividends, investment and cash flow uncertainty: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 112-124.
    13. Drobetz, Wolfgang & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Janzen, Malte, 2018. "Policy uncertainty, investment, and the cost of capital," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 28-45.
    14. Liu, Dunnan & Liu, Mingguang & Xu, Erfeng & Pang, Bo & Guo, Xiaodan & Xiao, Bowen & Niu, Dongxiao, 2018. "Comprehensive effectiveness assessment of renewable energy generation policy: A partial equilibrium analysis in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 330-341.
    15. Kim, Youngju & Lee, Seohyun & Lim, Hyunjoon, 2023. "Uncertainty, credit and investment: Evidence from firm-bank matched data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    16. Liu, Wenfeng & Zhang, Xingping & Feng, Sida, 2019. "Does renewable energy policy work? Evidence from a panel data analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 635-642.
    17. Cao, Hong & Guo, Litian & Zhang, Lin, 2020. "Does oil price uncertainty affect renewable energy firms’ investment? Evidence from listed firms in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    18. 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.
    19. Zhang, Dayong & Cao, Hong & Dickinson, David G. & Kutan, Ali M., 2016. "Free cash flows and overinvestment: Further evidence from Chinese energy firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 116-124.
    20. Kang, Wensheng & Lee, Kiseok & Ratti, Ronald A., 2014. "Economic policy uncertainty and firm-level investment," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 42-53.
    21. Chen, Haiqiang & Guo, Ye & Wen, Qiang, 2021. "For goodwill or resources? The rationale behind firms' corporate philanthropy in an environment with high economic policy uncertainty," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    22. Zhang, Dayong & Cao, Hong & Zou, Peijiang, 2016. "Exuberance in China's renewable energy investment: Rationality, capital structure and implications with firm level evidence," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 468-478.
    23. Richard F. J. Haans & Constant Pieters & Zi-Lin He, 2016. "Thinking about U: Theorizing and testing U- and inverted U-shaped relationships in strategy research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7), pages 1177-1195, July.
    24. Zhang, Mingming & Liu, Liyun & Wang, Qunwei & Zhou, Dequn, 2020. "Valuing investment decisions of renewable energy projects considering changing volatility," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    25. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    26. Seljom, Pernille & Tomasgard, Asgeir, 2017. "The impact of policy actions and future energy prices on the cost-optimal development of the energy system in Norway and Sweden," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 85-102.
    27. Li, Chuan-Zhong & Wei, Chu & Yu, Yang, 2020. "Income threshold, household appliance ownership and residential energy consumption in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    28. 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.
    29. Avinash K. Dixit & Robert S. Pindyck, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 5474.
    30. Henriques, Irene & Sadorsky, Perry, 2011. "The effect of oil price volatility on strategic investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 79-87, January.
    31. Jia, Zhijie & Lin, Boqiang, 2020. "Rethinking the choice of carbon tax and carbon trading in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    32. Ji, Qiang & Zhang, Dayong, 2019. "How much does financial development contribute to renewable energy growth and upgrading of energy structure in China?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 114-124.
    33. Wen, Qiang & Zhang, Teng, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and industrial pollution: The role of environmental supervision by local governments," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    34. Zhang, Xiang & Zhang, Zongyi & Zhou, Han, 2020. "Oil price uncertainty and cash holdings: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    35. Wang, Yizhong & Wei, Yueling & Song, Frank M., 2017. "Uncertainty and corporate R&D investment: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 176-200.
    36. Sarkar, Sudipto, 2000. "On the investment-uncertainty relationship in a real options model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 219-225, February.
    37. Wang, Juan & Zhang, Sulan & Zhang, Qingjun, 2021. "The relationship of renewable energy consumption to financial development and economic growth in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 897-904.
    38. Hashemizadeh, Ali & Ju, Yanbing & Bamakan, Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini & Le, Hoang Phong, 2021. "Renewable energy investment risk assessment in belt and road initiative countries under uncertainty conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    39. Du, Kerui & Yu, Ying & Wei, Chu, 2020. "Climatic impact on China's residential electricity consumption: Does the income level matter?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    40. Si, Deng-Kui & Li, Xiao-Lin & Huang, Shoujun, 2021. "Financial deregulation and operational risks of energy enterprise: The shock of liberalization of bank lending rate in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    41. Egli, Florian, 2020. "Renewable energy investment risk: An investigation of changes over time and the underlying drivers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    42. Zeira, Joseph, 1990. "Cost uncertainty and the rate of investment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 53-63, February.
    43. Hartman, Richard, 1972. "The effects of price and cost uncertainty on investment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 258-266, October.
    44. Wei, Chu & Ni, Jinlan & Du, Limin, 2012. "Regional allocation of carbon dioxide abatement in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 552-565.
    45. Liu, Guanchun & Zhang, Chengsi, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and firms' investment and financing decisions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    46. Nakamura, Tamotsu, 1999. "Risk-aversion and the uncertainty-investment relationship: a note," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 357-363, March.
    47. Abel, Andrew B, 1983. "Optimal Investment under Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 228-233, March.
    48. Sendstad, Lars Hegnes & Chronopoulos, Michail, 2020. "Sequential investment in renewable energy technologies under policy uncertainty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    49. Huseyin Gulen & Mihai Ion, 2016. "Editor's Choice Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(3), pages 523-564.
    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. Chunhong Liu & Shisong Jiang & Hanfei Zhang & Ziyi Lu & Umberto Desideri, 2024. "China and Italy’s Energy Development Trajectories: Current Landscapes and Future Cooperation Potential," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Zhang, Teng & Xu, Zhiwei, 2023. "The informational feedback effect of stock prices on corporate investments: A comparison of new energy firms and traditional energy firms in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    3. Jingxian Liu & Yingyu Wu & Lili Liu, 2023. "Impact of Environmental Uncertainties and Strategic Flexibility in Innovation Activities on NEV Battery Recycling Firms in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-16, February.
    4. Lin, Boqiang & Zhang, Aoxiang, 2023. "Government subsidies, market competition and the TFP of new energy enterprises," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    5. Lin, Boqiang & Wang, Siquan, 2024. "Sustainability of renewable energy in China: Enhanced strategic investment and displaced R&D expenditure," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    6. Cao, Hongjian & Zhao, Yu & Yuan, Li & Li, Ke, 2024. "Does legislation promote technological innovation in renewable energy enterprises? Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    7. Rongxin Wu & Boqiang Lin, 2022. "Does Energy Efficiency Realize Energy Conservation in the Iron and Steel Industry? A Perspective of Energy Rebound Effect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-20, September.
    8. Li, Jiaman & Dong, Kangyin & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Wang, Kun, 2022. "3G in China: How green economic growth and green finance promote green energy?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1327-1337.
    9. Farah Durani, 2024. "Time-varying Relationship between Fossil Fuel-Free Energy Indices and Economic Uncertainty: Global Evidence from Wavelet Coherence Approach," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(1), pages 663-672, January.
    10. Lin, Boqiang & Li, Minyang, 2023. "Emerging Industry Development and Information Transmission in Financial Markets: Evidence from China's Renewable Energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    11. Lin, Boqiang & Wang, Siquan, 2023. "The performance of specialized and oriented diversified firms: A comparative analysis from the targeted expansion of renewable energy business of listed companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    12. Tan, Xiujie & Dong, Hanmin & Liu, Yishuang & Su, Xin & Li, Zixian, 2022. "Green bonds and corporate performance: A potential way to achieve green recovery," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 59-68.
    13. Azam Ghezelbash & Vahid Khaligh & Seyed Hamed Fahimifard & J. Jay Liu, 2023. "A Comparative Perspective of the Effects of CO 2 and Non-CO 2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Global Solar, Wind, and Geothermal Energy Investment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-20, March.
    14. Yikai Zhao & Jun Nagayasu & Xinyi Geng, 2024. "Measuring Climate Policy Uncertainty with LLMs: New Insights into Corporate Bond Credit Spreads," DSSR Discussion Papers 143, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University.
    15. Li, Minyang & Lin, Boqiang, 2024. "Clean energy business expansion and financing availability: The role of government and market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    16. Lin, Boqiang & Li, Minyang, 2024. "Micro Mechanisms Driving China's Clean Energy Flourish: Business Expansion and Financing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(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. Bo, H. & Lensink, R., 2000. "Is the investment-uncertainty relationship non-linear? : an emperical [i.e. empirical] analysis for the Netherlands," Research Report 00E44, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    2. Boqiang Lin & Siquan Wang, 2023. "Mechanism analysis of the influence of oil price uncertainty on strategic investment of renewable energy enterprises," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 4176-4193, October.
    3. repec:dgr:rugsom:00e44 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Fedorova, Elena & Ledyaeva, Svetlana & Drogovoz, Pavel & Nevredinov, Alexandr, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and bankruptcy filings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Ilyas, Muhammad & Khan, Aamir & Nadeem, Muhammad & Suleman, Muhammad Tahir, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty, oil price shocks and corporate investment: Evidence from the oil industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Nguyen, Minh Hong & Trinh, Vu Quang, 2023. "U.K. economic policy uncertainty and innovation activities: A firm-level analysis," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    7. Gianluca Femminis, 2019. "Risk aversion heterogeneity and the investment–uncertainty relationship," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 223-264, August.
    8. Caroline Perrin & Laurent Weill, 2024. "Girls will be girls? The gendered effect of economic policy uncertainty on corporate investment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(9), pages 997-1011, February.
    9. 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.
    10. Azimli, Asil, 2022. "The impact of policy, political and economic uncertainty on corporate capital investment in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Turkey," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    11. 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.
    12. Hou, Fei & Tang, Wenjie & Wang, Huabing & Xiong, Hao, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty, marketization level and firm-level inefficient investment: Evidence from Chinese listed firms in energy and power industries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    13. Quader, Syed Manzur, 2023. "The interplay between uncertainty, managerial decision making, and firm value: Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    14. Henriques, Irene & Sadorsky, Perry, 2011. "The effect of oil price volatility on strategic investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 79-87, January.
    15. Yin, Doudou & Si, Deng-Kui & Wang, Yun, 2024. "How does corporate investment respond to trade policy uncertainty in China? The role of political connections," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1429-1445.
    16. 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.
    17. Bo, Hong & Zhang, Zhihai, 2002. "The impact of uncertainty on firm investment: evidence from machinery industry in Liaoning province of China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 335-352, December.
    18. Minh N. Nguyen & Hung M. Pham & Anh Phan & Ahmed W. Alam & Dung V. Tran, 2024. "BHC brilliance in the fog of uncertainty: Illuminating trends in bank performance," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 48(2), pages 437-461, June.
    19. Dawood Ashraf & Mohsin Khawaja & M. Ishaq Bhatti, 2022. "Raising capital amid economic policy uncertainty: an empirical investigation," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-32, December.
    20. Marina Riem, 2016. "Corporate investment decisions under political uncertainty," ifo Working Paper Series 221, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    21. Hjalmar Böhm & Michael Funke & Nikolaus A. Siegfried, 1999. "Discovering the Link between Uncertainty and Investment - Microeconometric Evidence from Germany," Quantitative Macroeconomics Working Papers 19906, Hamburg University, Department of Economics.

    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:chieco:v:75:y:2022:i:c:s1043951x22001031. 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.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    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.