IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v123y2023ics0264999323000639.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does environmental regulation affect the labor income share of manufacturing enterprises? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Cui, Guanghui
  • Zhang, Yi
  • Ma, Jingwen
  • Yao, Wenyun

Abstract

On January 1, 2015, the amended Environmental Protection Law introduced by the People's Republic of China went into effect to safeguard environmental sustainability; however, some critics have indicated its detrimental effects. Based on a quasi-natural experiment of the new Environmental Protection Law, we examined the effects of environmental regulation on labor income share using a difference-in-differences model. Our research illustrates that stricter environmental regulation lowers manufacturing enterprises' labor income share through capital deepening. Stricter regulation has a more detrimental impact on large-scale organizations, companies with weak corporate social responsibility, and companies with less pressure on employment stability. Further analysis demonstrates that the new Environmental Protection Law encourages manufacturing companies to increase capital inputs and hire highly skilled laborers.

Suggested Citation

  • Cui, Guanghui & Zhang, Yi & Ma, Jingwen & Yao, Wenyun, 2023. "Does environmental regulation affect the labor income share of manufacturing enterprises? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:123:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323000639
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106251
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999323000639
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106251?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. Francesco Vona & Giovanni Marin & Davide Consoli & David Popp, 2018. "Environmental Regulation and Green Skills: An Empirical Exploration," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(4), pages 713-753.
    2. Guimarães, Luís & Mazeda Gil, Pedro, 2022. "Explaining the Labor Share: Automation Vs Labor Market Institutions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Thomas Chaney & David Sraer & David Thesmar, 2012. "The Collateral Channel: How Real Estate Shocks Affect Corporate Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2381-2409, October.
    4. Berman, Eli & Bui, Linda T. M., 2001. "Environmental regulation and labor demand: evidence from the South Coast Air Basin," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 265-295, February.
    5. Olivier Blanchard & Francesco Giavazzi, 2003. "Macroeconomic Effects of Regulation and Deregulation in Goods and Labor Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 879-907.
    6. David Autor & David Dorn & Lawrence F Katz & Christina Patterson & John Van Reenen, 2020. "The Fall of the Labor Share and the Rise of Superstar Firms [“Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 645-709.
    7. Emilie Daudey & Cecilia Garcia-Penalosa, 2007. "The personal and the factor distributions of income in a cross-section of countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(5), pages 812-829.
    8. Brent Neiman, 2014. "The Global Decline of the Labor Share," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 61-103.
    9. Bas, Maria & Paunov, Caroline, 2021. "Input quality and skills are complementary and increase output quality: Causal evidence from Ecuador’s trade liberalization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    10. Rijal, Binish & Khanna, Neha, 2020. "High priority violations and intra-firm pollution substitution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Liu, Mengdi & Shadbegian, Ronald & Zhang, Bing, 2017. "Does environmental regulation affect labor demand in China? Evidence from the textile printing and dyeing industry," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 277-294.
    12. Parisi, Maria Laura, 2017. "Labor market rigidity, social policies and the labor share: Empirical evidence before and after the big crisis," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 492-512.
    13. Sushanta K. MALLICK & Ricardo M. SOUSA, 2017. "The skill premium effect of technological change: New evidence from United States manufacturing," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 156(1), pages 113-131, March.
    14. Francesco Vona & Giovanni Marin & Davide Consoli & David Popp, 2018. "Environmental Regulation and Green Skills: An Empirical Exploration," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(4), pages 713-753.
    15. Robert VERGEER & Alfred KLEINKNECHT, 2014. "Do labour market reforms reduce labour productivity growth? A panel data analysis of 20 OECD countries (1960–2004)," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(3), pages 365-393, September.
    16. W. Reed Walker, 2011. "Environmental Regulation and Labor Reallocation: Evidence from the Clean Air Act," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 442-447, May.
    17. Li, Bing & Liu, Chang & Sun, Stephen Teng, 2021. "Do corporate income tax cuts decrease labor share? Regression discontinuity evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    18. Michael Greenstone, 2002. "The Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Industrial Activity: Evidence from the 1970 and 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments and the Census of Manufactures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(6), pages 1175-1219, December.
    19. Guojun He & Shaoda Wang & Bing Zhang, 2020. "Watering Down Environmental Regulation in China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2135-2185.
    20. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-01157487 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1fkb59dcsg9alqqq6qv18jj5us is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Leblebicioğlu, Asli & Weinberger, Ariel, 2021. "Openness and factor shares: Is globalization always bad for labor?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    23. Song, Eunbi, 2021. "What drives labor share change? Evidence from Korean industries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 370-385.
    24. Gupta, Sanjeev & Jalles, João Tovar, 2022. "Do tax reforms affect income distribution? Evidence from developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    25. Daron Acemoglu, 2003. "Labor- And Capital-Augmenting Technical Change," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 1-37, March.
    26. Hasan, Rana & Mitra, Devashish & Sundaram, Asha, 2013. "The Determinants of Capital Intensity in Manufacturing: The Role of Factor Market Imperfections," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 91-103.
    27. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/75koqefued8i7pihbrl9u84p4u is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Thomas Piketty, 2015. "About Capital in the Twenty-First Century," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 48-53, May.
    29. Chen, Shiyi & Song, Hong & Wu, Chenyu, 2021. "Human capital investment and firms’ industrial emissions: Evidence and mechanism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 162-184.
    30. Petreski, Marjan, 2021. "Has globalization shrunk manufacturing labor share in transition economies?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 201-211.
    31. Balachandran, Balasingham & Nguyen, Justin Hung, 2018. "Does carbon risk matter in firm dividend policy? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in an imputation environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 249-267.
    32. Lexin Zhao & Qianbin Feng & Wen-Quan Hu, 2022. "Investment incentives and labor share: evidence from accelerated depreciation policy in China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(41), pages 4751-4766, September.
    33. Michael E. Porter & Claas van der Linde, 1995. "Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 97-118, Fall.
    34. Bom, Pedro R.D. & Erauskin, Iñaki, 2022. "Productive government investment and the labor share," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 347-363.
    35. Andrew T. Young & Hernando Zuleta, 2018. "Do Unions Increase Labor Shares? Evidence from US Industry-Level Data," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 558-575, September.
    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, Zheng & Jin, Bohan, 2024. "A breath of fresh air: Coal power plant closures and health in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    2. Chunrong Yan & Xintian Xiang & Liping Li & Guoxiang Li, 2023. "Environmental Credit Constraints and the Enterprise Choice of Environmental Protection Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-24, December.
    3. Wei, Xiahai & Jiang, Feng & Su, Yaqin, 2024. "More green, less labor gains? Green factory and labor income share in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    4. Yu, Fan & Zheng, Shilin & Zheng, Shuhong & Guo, Chenhao, 2024. "Does carbon ETS affect the distribution of labor's slice of the factor income pie? From the low carbon transition perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    5. Chen, Bo & Xu, Huange & Li, Guangchen, 2023. "Entry deregulation and labor share: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    6. Xie, Yu & Wu, Desheng & Li, Xiaoyan & Tian, Suhua, 2023. "How does environmental regulation affect productivity? The role of corporate compliance strategies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    7. Huang, Yuhong & Gao, Yajia, 2023. "Labor protection and the digital transformation of enterprises: Empirical evidence from China's social insurance law," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    8. Zang, Xuheng & Feng, Jiankang & Song, Mingyue, 2024. "The impact of air pollution on household vulnerability to poverty: An empirical study from household data in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1369-1383.
    9. Fan, Maoyong & Jiang, Hanchen & Zhou, Maigeng, 2023. "Beyond particulate matter: New evidence on the causal effects of air pollution on mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(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. Yao, Wenyun & Zhang, Yi & Ma, Jingwen & Cui, Guanghui, 2023. "Does environmental regulation affect capital-labor ratio of manufacturing enterprises: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Jiyu Zhao & Ning Zhang, 2023. "Environmental regulation and labor market: a bibliometric analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6095-6116, July.
    3. Marin, Giovanni & Vona, Francesco, 2019. "Climate policies and skill-biased employment dynamics: Evidence from EU countries," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Marin, Giovanni & Vona, Francesco, 2021. "The impact of energy prices on socioeconomic and environmental performance: Evidence from French manufacturing establishments, 1997–2015," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    5. Xiao, De & Yu, Fan & Guo, Chenhao, 2023. "The impact of China's pilot carbon ETS on the labor income share: Based on an empirical method of combining PSM with staggered DID," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    6. Amendola, Marco & Ciampa, Valerio & Germani, Lorenzo, 2024. "The distributional effects of labour market deregulation: Wage share and fixed-term contracts," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 328-338.
    7. Hille, Erik & Möbius, Patrick, 2019. "Do energy prices affect employment? Decomposed international evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-21.
    8. Matteo G. Richiardi & Luis Valenzuela, 2024. "Firm heterogeneity and the aggregate labour share," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 38(1), pages 66-101, March.
    9. Liao, Tianlong & Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan & Lu, Rui, 2023. "Environmental regulation and corporate employment revisited: New quasi-natural experimental evidence from China's new environmental protection law," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    10. Francesco Vona & Giovanni Marin & Davide Consoli, 2019. "Measures, drivers and effects of green employment: evidence from US local labor markets, 2006–2014," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(5), pages 1021-1048.
    11. Kraft, Kornelius & Lammers, Alexander, 2021. "Bargaining Power and the Labor Share - a Structural Break Approach," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242342, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5ahh4t5kfl8nprei89ignlk5nl is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Guimarães, Luís & Mazeda Gil, Pedro, 2022. "Explaining the Labor Share: Automation Vs Labor Market Institutions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    14. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2lpvf5mlr48dkah5qda4hh4e9g is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Marjan Petreski, 2022. "Minimum wage and manufacturing labor share: Evidence from North Macedonia," Finance Think Policy Studies 2022-02/41, Finance Think - Economic Research and Policy Institute.
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1jrfjrj6fp8t6q12fv5lra520c is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Bretschger, Lucas & Jo, Ara, 2024. "Complementarity between labor and energy: A firm-level analysis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    18. Kyoji Fukao & Cristiano Perugini, 2021. "The Long‐Run Dynamics of the Labor Share in Japan," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 445-480, June.
    19. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2vteelu0n785l82j764n6ul273 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Wang, Chang’an & Liu, Xiaoqian & Li, Han & Yang, Cunyi, 2023. "Analyzing the impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on enterprises' labor demand: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1jrfjrj6fp8t6q12fv5lra520c is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Li, Zhuo & Li, Yuanqi, 2024. "Environmental regulation and employment: Evidence from China's new Environmental Protection Law," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 400-416.
    23. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5ahh4t5kfl8nprei89ignlk5nl is not listed on IDEAS
    24. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2vteelu0n785l82j764n6ul273 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2lpvf5mlr48dkah5qda4hh4e9g is not listed on IDEAS
    26. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6d7es28iae9pjoil7092hs41h3 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Ling-Yun He & Xiao-Feng Qi, 2021. "Environmental Courts, Environment and Employment: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, June.
    28. Olivier Deschenes, 2018. "Environmental regulations and labor markets," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-22, November.
    29. Liu, Mengdi & Tan, Ruipeng & Zhang, Bing, 2021. "The costs of “blue sky”: Environmental regulation, technology upgrading, and labor demand in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(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:eee:ecmode:v:123:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323000639. 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/inca/30411 .

    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.