Political Connection and Environmental Protection Investment: A Study Based on Ownership Difference

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 I have carefully studied the Manuscript “The Causal Effect of Political Connection on Firms’  Environmental Investment in the Pollution-Intensive  Industries: A Study based on Ownership Difference and have the following observations for the author(s):

- Please follow some previous papers  published in this journal and provide background, findings, methodology, and brief policies in this section to make it more attractive to readers

-The limitation of the study is missed.

- Suggest more valuable suggestions and recommendation for the policy makers in tested countries.

- Add more graph related to the main variables

- The novel contribution of this study is missed

- add the references for the first paragraph

- explain the advantage for the employed model

-Some recent literature relating to Environmental sustainability not discussed.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-022-01435-8

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15734

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-022-01532-8

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151657

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02888-1

 

 

 

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

no comment

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is well written with respect to the introduction, literature review and hypothesis. The methodology are clear and the statistical tests well carried out. However, the authors spent a significant portion of the article explain the results. The discussions of the findings and its significance to environmental protection are relatively weak and needs to be improved.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I carefully read the study titled “The Causal Effect of Political Connection on Firms’ Environmental Investment in the Pollution-Intensive Industries: A Study based on Ownership Difference”. This study primarily examines the impact of political connections on environmental protection investments in industries with high pollution in China, using firm-level data. The results show that in state-owned firms, political connections increase environmental protection investments, whereas in non-state-owned firms, political connections decrease these investments. Truth be told, this result is quite intuitive and certainly not a surprise. However, its support with evidence is quite crucial. While this study contributes to the field and is well-designed, it should be noted that there are some question marks. Addressing these questions will enhance the quality of the study.

1.     Considering we are at the end of 2023, why is the time period 2011-2015? Is this period sufficient for us to make a healthy and up-to-date estimate?

2.     The introduction is well-structured but has shortcomings. The contribution of the study to the literature is provided at the end of the section. However, the gap in the literature and the motivation for the study are not fully understood. In my opinion, the authors should clearly convey to the reader why the relationship between political connections and environmental protection investments is important in the introduction.

3.     The study indicates that environmental protection investments are very important for emerging market economies. For instance, can this level of importance be compared with developed countries? Looking at it from the opposite perspective, could environmental protection investments be a significant economic cost for these countries aspiring to attain developed country status? Are these countries ready to bear this cost?

4.     It has been mentioned that China faces significant pressure from the international community in the context of environmental protection investments. What's the status of international public pressure in other developing and developed countries? Could the pressure applied to China be unfair?

5.     On line 194 (2.2), the letter "h" should be capitalized. Figure conventions should be adhered to. The study should be read carefully to correct errors.

6.     Aren't there studies examining the effects of political connections (primarily lobbying) on environmental protection investments for different countries?

7.     Discussions related to the results could be more specific and framed in a way that sheds light on China's reality.

 

8.     There is no information regarding limitations in the discussion section of the study. Doesn't this study have any limitations? Also, aren't the authors making any suggestions for future research?

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required. 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Environmental sustainability is a critical global concern, and pollution-intensive industries often have a substantial negative impact on the environment. Exploring the influence of political connections on firms' environmental investment in such industries is important, as it can shed light on the effectiveness of government policies in promoting sustainable business practices. Therefore, current work is an interesting and is well within the scope of journal. However, I have few queries and suggestions that have been listed below:

1)     Investigating the causal relationship between political connections and firms' environmental investment is a methodologically challenging task. Why authors have chosen only 2011-2015 data? Why recent incidents or reports have not been considered for the research analysis

2)     The inclusion of ownership difference as a factor in this study is interesting. Why ownership difference has been considered as crucial factor in current work?

3)     Is there any possibility that the findings of this study could can have significant influence on environmental investments?

4)     The role of political connections in shaping firms' environmental investment also raises ethical concerns. If certain companies benefit from such connections while others don't, it may lead to environmental injustices. Researchers should consider and discuss these ethical dimensions in their study.

 

5)     It's essential to assess whether the effects of political connections on firms' environmental investments are sustainable in the long term. Short-term investments may not translate into genuine commitment to environmental responsibility.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English of  the manuscript can be improved. Kindly check for ,grammer, typos and linking of sentences throughout the manuscript.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

accepted it 

Author Response

We greatly appreciate your insightful comments and suggestions，thanks !

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Even though I think the work could be better, I must say that all the issues have been achieved. Thank you to the authors. Congratulations!

Author Response

We greatly appreciate your insightful comments and suggestions，thanks !