IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i11p4028-d180248.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Regulation and Corporate Financing—Quasi-Natural Experiment Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xinghe Liu

    (School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

  • Enxian Wang

    (Institute for Financial and Accounting Studies, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

  • Danting Cai

    (School of Hotel and Tourism Management, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China)

Abstract

The Environmental Protection Law, which includes 70 articles and major changes in six aspects compared to the old law, is called in Chinese society the new Environment Protection Law. When the law was implemented in 2014, it was an important event in China that could be seen as a natural experiment. Based on a difference-in-differences model, this paper considers all of the listed heavily polluting enterprises between 2011 and 2016 as the experimental group and all of the other firms in the same industries listed on the Chinese stock market as the control group and examines the impact of the new Environmental Protection Law on the corporate financing of heavily polluting enterprises and its mechanisms. The results show that the strict environmental law caused Chinese listed enterprises to face higher environmental regulation costs, public pressure and environmental litigation. The financing capacity of heavily polluting enterprises has dropped significantly, especially in areas with higher regulatory intensity. Furthermore, since the new Environmental Protection Law was established, overinvestment by China’s heavily polluting enterprises has been significantly inhibited, and the decline in financing capacity exerts a mediating effect. The ultimate economic consequences of the new Environmental Protection Law are to decrease the corporate value of heavily polluting industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinghe Liu & Enxian Wang & Danting Cai, 2018. "Environmental Regulation and Corporate Financing—Quasi-Natural Experiment Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-22, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4028-:d:180248
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4028/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4028/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Lanoie & Michel Patry & Richard Lajeunesse, 2008. "Environmental regulation and productivity: testing the porter hypothesis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 121-128, October.
    2. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Government Ownership of Banks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 265-301, February.
    3. Giannetti, Mariassunta, 2003. "Do Better Institutions Mitigate Agency Problems? Evidence from Corporate Finance Choices," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 185-212, March.
    4. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    5. Axelrod, Robert, 1986. "An Evolutionary Approach to Norms," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(4), pages 1095-1111, December.
    6. Sean Cleary, 1999. "The Relationship between Firm Investment and Financial Status," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 673-692, April.
    7. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    8. Gollop, Frank M & Roberts, Mark J, 1983. "Environmental Regulations and Productivity Growth: The Case of Fossil-Fueled Electric Power Generation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(4), pages 654-674, August.
    9. Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
    10. Gan, Jianbang & McCarl, Bruce A., 2007. "Measuring transnational leakage of forest conservation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 423-432, December.
    11. Wenjing Li & Xiaoyan Lu, 2016. "Institutional Interest, Ownership Type, and Environmental Capital Expenditures: Evidence from the Most Polluting Chinese Listed Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(3), pages 459-476, October.
    12. Barbera, Anthony J. & McConnell, Virginia D., 1990. "The impact of environmental regulations on industry productivity: Direct and indirect effects," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 50-65, January.
    13. John R. Graham & Michael L. Lemmon & Jack G. Wolf, 2002. "Does Corporate Diversification Destroy Value?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 695-720, April.
    14. Butler, Alexander W. & Cornaggia, Jess, 2011. "Does access to external finance improve productivity? Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 184-203, January.
    15. Fan, Joseph P. H. & Titman, Sheridan & Twite, Garry, 2012. "An International Comparison of Capital Structure and Debt Maturity Choices," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 23-56, February.
    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. Shi, Jinyan & Yu, Conghui & Li, Yanxi & Wang, Tianhe, 2022. "Does green financial policy affect debt-financing cost of heavy-polluting enterprises? An empirical evidence based on Chinese pilot zones for green finance reform and innovations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    2. Liu, Xinghe & Wang, Enxian & Cai, Danting, 2019. "Green credit policy, property rights and debt financing: Quasi-natural experimental evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 129-135.
    3. Liu, Xinghe & Xu, Huifeng & Lu, Meiting, 2021. "Do auditors respond to stringent environmental regulation? Evidence from China’s new environmental protection law," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 54-67.
    4. Enxian Wang & Xinghe Liu & Jiapeng Wu & Danting Cai, 2019. "Green Credit, Debt Maturity, and Corporate Investment—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Quan Guo & Min Zhou & Nana Liu & Yaoyu Wang, 2019. "Spatial Effects of Environmental Regulation and Green Credits on Green Technology Innovation under Low-Carbon Economy Background Conditions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-16, August.
    6. 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).
    7. Xiang Deng & Li Li, 2020. "Promoting or Inhibiting? The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Corporate Financial Performance—An Empirical Analysis Based on China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-17, May.
    8. Sun, Jiamu & Xue, Jiaan & Qiu, Xiaodong, 2023. "Has the sustainable energy transition in China's resource-based cities promoted green technology innovation in firms?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    9. Xinpeng Xing & Tiansen Liu & Lin Shen & Jianhua Wang, 2020. "Linking Environmental Regulation and Financial Performance: The Mediating Role of Green Dynamic Capability and Sustainable Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-22, January.
    10. Li, Jianglong & Gao, Jinfeng & Liao, Meiling, 2024. "Operating risk of enterprises when adopting environmental regulation: Evidence from environmental protection law in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 901-914.
    11. Guoyong Wu & Mengmin Sun & Yanchao Feng, 2024. "How does the new environmental protection law affect the environmental social responsibility of enterprises in Chinese heavily polluting industries?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    12. Qian Zhao & Chi-Wei Su, 2023. "The Nexus Between Air Pollution and Outward Foreign Direct Investment," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440221, January.
    13. Guangyuan Xing & Youheng Zhang & Ju’e Guo, 2023. "Environmental Regulation in Evolution and Governance Strategies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-25, March.
    14. Zhou, Di & Qiu, Yuan & Wang, Mingzhe, 2021. "Does environmental regulation promote enterprise profitability? Evidence from the implementation of China's newly revised Environmental Protection Law," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    15. Yingli Wu & Guangji Tong, 2022. "The evaluation of agricultural enterprise's innovative borrowing capacity based on deep learning and BP neural network," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 13(3), pages 1111-1123, December.
    16. Yang, Jingyi & Shi, Daqian & Yang, Wenbo, 2022. "Stringent environmental regulation and capital structure: The effect of NEPL on deleveraging the high polluting firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 643-656.
    17. Xixiong Xu & Lingling Duan & Youliang Yan, 2019. "The Influence of Confucianism on Corporate Environmental Investment: Evidence from Chinese Private Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-20, October.

    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. Bessler, Wolfgang & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Haller, Rebekka & Meier, Iwan, 2013. "The international zero-leverage phenomenon," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 196-221.
    2. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Haller, Rebekka & Meier, Iwan, 2016. "Cash flow sensitivities during normal and crisis times: Evidence from shipping," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 26-49.
    3. Zhu, Xiaoquan & Peng, Hongfeng & Zhang, Zijian, 2020. "The nexus of judicial efficiency, social burden and default risk: Cross-country evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Haider, Zulfiquer Ali & Liu, Mingzhi & Wang, Yefeng & Zhang, Ying, 2018. "Government ownership, financial constraint, corruption, and corporate performance: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 76-93.
    5. Xin Qu & Majella Percy & Fang Hu & Jenny Stewart, 2022. "Can CEO equity‐based compensation limit investment‐related agency problems?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2579-2614, June.
    6. Guo, Shu & Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2023. "Green credit policy and total factor productivity: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    7. Paul Mizen & Cihan Yalcin, 2006. "Monetary Policy, Corporate Financial Composition and Real Activity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 52(1), pages 177-213, March.
    8. Lou, Zhaohui & Xie, Qizhuo & Shen, Jim Huangnan & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2024. "Does Supply Chain Finance (SCF) alleviate funding constraints of SMEs? Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    9. He, Yiqing & Ding, Xin & Yang, Chuchu, 2021. "Do environmental regulations and financial constraints stimulate corporate technological innovation? Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    10. Bachas, Natalie & Kim, Olivia S. & Yannelis, Constantine, 2021. "Loan guarantees and credit supply," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 872-894.
    11. Levine, Oliver & Warusawitharana, Missaka, 2021. "Finance and productivity growth: Firm-level evidence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 91-107.
    12. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan & Zhang, Chengsi, 2021. "Human capital in the financial sector and corporate debt maturity," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    13. Ameer, Rashid, 2014. "Financial constraints and corporate investment in Asian countries," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 44-55.
    14. Fabio Bertoni & Massimo G. Colombo & Annalisa Croce, 2010. "The Effect of Venture Capital Financing on the Sensitivity to Cash Flow of Firm's Investments," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 16(4), pages 528-551, September.
    15. Julio Pindado & Chabela De La Torre, 2009. "Effect of ownership structure on underinvestment and overinvestment: empirical evidence from Spain," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 49(2), pages 363-383, June.
    16. Jean-Bernard Chatelain, 2003. "Structural modelling of financial constraints on investment: where do we stand?," Chapters, in: Paul Butzen & Catherine Fuss (ed.), Firms’ Investment and Finance Decisions, chapter 2, pages 40-58, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Catherine Fuss & Philip Vermeulen, 2006. "The response of firms\u2019 investment and financing to adverse cash flow shocks : the role of bank relationships," Working Paper Research 87, National Bank of Belgium.
    18. Hanna Hottenrott & Bettina Peters, 2012. "Innovative Capability and Financing Constraints for Innovation: More Money, More Innovation?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(4), pages 1126-1142, November.
    19. Siedschlag, Iulia & Yan, Weijie, 2020. "Green investments and firm performance," Papers WP672, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    20. Siedschlag, Iulia & Yan, Weijie, 2023. "Do green investments improve firm performance? Empirical evidence from Ireland," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PB).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4028-:d:180248. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.