绿色债券获得投资者偏好了吗?——基于信用利差的视角

Do Green Bonds Attract Investor Preference?From the Perspective of Credit Spreads

本文以2016—2020年我国债券市场发行的绿色债券及公司债为研究样本,对绿色债券与信用利差之间的关系进行了探讨。研究发现,相比于普通债券,绿色债券的信用利差更低,且绿色债券主要通过更低的信息风险来降低发行人的融资成本。进一步检验债券特征发现,当债券发行次数较多、债券期限较长、债券具有不可回售特征、承销商声誉较低、发行人规模较小时,绿色债券的“绿色”属性更容易获得投资者偏好,绿色债券发行的信用利差更低。同时,绿色债券的发行有利于债券持有人开展更多的绿色创新与绿色运用活动。研究结论为提高绿色债券资金配置效率、推进绿色可持续发展提供了经验证据。

In recent years,with the widespread concern about the climate crisis,green sustainable development has become a global hot topic.Since the seven ministries and commissions including the People's Bank of China issued the“Guidance on Building a Green Financial System”in 2016,in which green bonds are taken as one of the important instruments,green bonds have grown rapidly in China's bond market.So,under the favorable policy environment of green finance,do green bonds attract investor preference?What is the transmission mechanism and the context in which it works?Do green bonds effectively play the role of fund allocation and really promote the flow of funds to green sustainable development?Based on the above issues,using the green bonds and corporate bonds issued in China's bond market from 2016 to 2020,this paper explores the relationship between green bonds and credit spreads.It is found that compared to ordinary bonds,green bonds issued are more likely to attract investor preference,which is reflected in lower credit spreads,and this finding remains unchanged after robustness tests such as the PSM test and the instrumental variable method.At the same time,this preference mainly stems from the lower-level information risk associated with higher ratings and green certification by authoritative agencies.Further tests find that green bonds have significant advantages in reducing financing costs,especially when there are more bond issues,longer bond maturities,and higher bond information risk faced by investors such as non-returnable bonds,low reputation of underwriters,and small issuer size.In addition,this paper also finds that green bond issuers have made more green innovations and green applications.The possible contributions of this paper are that:First,green bonds are emerging in China,but related research is still limited,and only a few scholars have explored whether green bond issuance in China brings lower credit spreads.This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the relationship between green bonds and credit spreads based on the information asymmetry theory,signaling theory,and social identity theory,and further analyzes the cross-sectional differences of bond characteristics,issuers,and underwriters to broaden the theoretical explanation of the impact of green bonds on credit spreads.Second,the existing literature studies the relationship between green bonds and credit spreads from the perspective of bond issuers,while this paper systematically examines the direct mechanism of green bonds on credit spreads from the perspective of investors'risk perceptions,which further complements the influencing factors of investor preference in the bond market,and provides empirical evidence for the smooth issuance of green bonds.Third,this paper purposefully examines the use of funds raised from the issuance of green bonds in green-related aspects,and the findings are of great practical significance for further improving China's green financial market,optimizing fund allocation,and thus promoting green sustainable development.