中央环保督察能否诱发企业绿色创新?

Dose the central environmental inspection induce green innovation in firms?

创新与绿色是新时代促进经济发展的两大重要引擎,创新的环境规制政策是解决环境和经济矛盾的重要手段。本文以首轮中央环保督察行动为准自然实验,运用多期双重差分模型考察其对企业绿色创新的影响。结果表明:第一,中央环保督察行动对企业的创新补偿效应大于遵循成本效应,提高了污染密集型行业企业的绿色创新水平,且对绿色发明专利的正向影响大于绿色实用新型专利。该结论在一系列稳健性检验下仍然成立。第二,政策模仿效应不存在,企业主要通过增加环保投资等方式提升绿色创新水平,减少督察行动带来的成本压力。第三,环境规制较弱地区企业对中央环保督察敏感性更高,政策的创新补偿效应更强。第四,督察行动显著增加了国有企业的绿色发明专利申请量,但对绿色实用新型专利申请量影响较小,非国有企业情况相反。

Innovation and green are two important engines to promote economic development in the new era,while innovative environmental policy plays a vital role on solving the paradox of environmental protection and economic growth.In this paper,taking the first round of the Central Environmental Inspection(CEI)as a natural experiment,we identify the impact of CEI on firm green innovation with a multi-period difference-in-difference design.The results show that:first,the innovation compensation effect of the CEI is greater than the cost compliance effect,which improves the green innovation level of pollution-intensive firms.Moreover,the CEI actions have a more positive impact on green invention patents than green utility model patents.Second,the accumulative learning effect exists.Firms will enhance the level of green innovation by increasing environmental investment and reduce the pressure brought by this policy.Third,firms in areas with weak environmental regulations are more sensitive to the CEI,where the positive effect of green technology innovation is stronger there.Fourth,the CEI has significantly driven the number of green invention patent applications of state-owned firms,but had little impact on the number of green utility model patent applications.Meanwhile,this finding is opposite for private and foreign-owned firms.It is notable that our conclusion was maintained under a series of robust tests.