区域一体化与企业绿色创新——基于长三角城市经济协调会扩容的准自然实验

Regional Integration and Corporate Green Innovation:A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the Expansion of the Yangtze River Delta City Economic Coordination Committee

在推进新时代区域协调发展战略实施和推动企业绿色转型的双重背景下,区域一体化的绿色创新效应究竟如何是一个值得探讨的问题。以2004—2021年A股上市公司为研究样本,以长三角城市经济协调会扩容为准自然实验,采用双重差分法检验了长三角城市群一体化对企业绿色创新的影响效应及其机理。研究发现:(1)区域一体化促进了企业绿色创新水平的提升,这一促进效应体现在降低企业成本和释放市场需求空间上。(2)企业异质性检验结果表明,相比于劳动密集型企业而言,资本及技术密集型企业对于区域一体化政策的绿色创新效应更加敏感。(3)机制检验结果表明,区域一体化一方面吸引了外商直接投资的流入,通过资金及技术溢出效应提高企业绿色创新水平;另一方面增强了环境规制力度,通过创新补偿效应提升企业绿色创新意愿。研究结论丰富了区域一体化微观经济后果研究和企业绿色创新影响因素的文献,同时也为如何实现生态环境保护与经济高质量发展的双重红利提供了重要启示。

Against the backdrop of promoting the implementation of a regional coordinated development strategy in the new era and advancing the green transformation of enterprises,the question of the green innovation effect of regional integration is worthy of discussion.This paper takes the A-share listed companies from 2004 to 2021 as the research sample,and takes the expansion of Yangtze River Delta Urban Economic Coordination Society as the quasi-natural experiment,the effect of Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone integration on green innovation and its mechanism were examined using the double difference method.The findings are as follows:(1)Regional integration promotes an enhancement in enterprises’green innovation level,manifested through cost reduction and increased market demand space.(2)Results from firm heterogeneity tests indicate that capital-and technology-intensive firms are more responsive to the green innovation effects of regional integration policies compared to labor-intensive firms.(3)Mechanism test results reveal that,on one hand,regional integration attracts foreign direct investment inflow and enhances enterprise green innovation levels through capital and technology spillover effects;on the other hand,it strengthens environmental regulation and fosters enterprise willingness for green innovation through an innovation compensation effect.The research conclusions enrich literature on microeconomic consequences of regional integration and influencing factors affecting enterprises’green innovation,and may also provide important insights into achieving dual benefits in ecological environmental protection and high-quality economic development.