How Do Local Environmental Regulations Affect the Export Technological Complexity of Enterprises?
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Impact Mechanisms
- Promoting independent innovation by enterprises [29]. When the government implements environmental regulations, these measures inevitably influence the operational dynamics of enterprises. To mitigate potential adverse effects and avoid economic losses, businesses must actively engage in innovation. Consequently, the independent innovation spurred by environmental regulations contributes to an increase in the export technological complexity of enterprises.
- Government support for enterprise technological innovation [30]. Environmental protection yields positive externalities, yet environmental regulations can also impose challenges on enterprise operations. To address these challenges, the government provides support for technological innovation through subsidies, tax incentives, and technological assistance. Hence, the implementation of environmental regulations not only initiates government support for enterprise innovation but also enhances the export technological complexity of these businesses.
- Environmental regulations will affect the use of intermediate goods by enterprises [31]. Environmental regulations influence not only individual enterprises that export products but also affect various production processes, particularly for high-tech goods that require complex intermediate inputs. In response to these regulations, enterprises producing intermediate goods enhance their offerings, which in turn leads to upgrades in the final products exported by these enterprises. Thus, environmental regulations increase export technological complexity by affecting the utilization of intermediate goods.
- Environmental regulations will enhance the human capital of enterprises [32]. Cities with stringent environmental governance often become more attractive places to live, drawing in talented individuals. Consequently, enterprises located in these cities benefit from increased access to skilled labor. Human capital is a critical factor in enhancing the export technological complexity of enterprises. Therefore, environmental regulations elevate the export technological complexity of local businesses by positively influencing their human capital.
4. Design of Econometric Models and Explanation of Variables
4.1. Econometric Model Design
4.2. Selection and Explanation of Variables
4.3. Data Sources
4.4. Statistical Description
5. The Regression Results and Analysis
5.1. Baseline Regression
5.2. Robustness Test
5.3. Heterogeneity Test
5.4. Moderating Effect
5.5. Discussion
6. Conclusions and Policy Recommendations
6.1. Conclusions
6.2. Policy Recommendations
6.3. Limitation and Future Guidelines
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | Description | Measurement | Sources |
---|---|---|---|
lnExpy | export technological complexity | Tacchella et al. [34] | China Customs database |
lnEr | environmental regulations | Chen et al. [35] | Government Work Reports |
lnSize | enterprise size | number of employees | Industrial Enterprise Database |
lnAge | enterprise age | age of enterprise | Industrial Enterprise Database |
lnCapital | capital intensity | fixed assets/employees | Industrial Enterprise Database |
Finance | financial constraint | current liabilities/assets | Industrial Enterprise Database |
HHI | competition in the industry | H-H Index | Industrial Enterprise Database |
Cityind | industrial structure | tertiary sector/GDP | City Statistical Yearbook |
Variable | Obs | Mean | Std. Dev. | Min | Max |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
lnExpy | 628,903 | −0.90 | 1.20 | −14.66 | 3.15 |
lnEr | 628,903 | −3.97 | 1.61 | −13.95 | 3.56 |
lnSize | 628,903 | 5.38 | 1.09 | 2.89 | 8.30 |
lnAge | 628,903 | 2.21 | 0.67 | 0.69 | 3.99 |
lnCapital | 628,903 | 3.64 | 1.38 | 0.14 | 7.03 |
Finance | 628,903 | 0.51 | 0.27 | 0.00 | 1.17 |
HHI | 628,903 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.90 |
Cityind | 628,903 | 0.42 | 0.09 | 0.11 | 0.77 |
Variable | (1) lnExpy | (2) lnExpy | (3) lnExpy | (4) lnExpy |
---|---|---|---|---|
lnEr | 0.0090 *** (0.003) | 0.0099 *** (0.003) | 0.0099 *** (0.003) | 0.0087 *** (0.003) |
lnSize | 0.0070 ** (0.003) | 0.0070 ** (0.003) | 0.0070 *** (0.003) | |
lnAge | −0.0159 *** (0.004) | −0.0159 *** (0.004) | −0.0163 *** (0.004) | |
lnCapital | 0.0376 *** (0.002) | 0.0376 *** (0.002) | 0.0380 *** (0.002) | |
Finance | −0.0487 *** (0.009) | −0.0488 *** (0.009) | −0.0492 *** (0.009) | |
HHI | 0.0184 (0.090) | 0.0170 (0.090) | ||
Cityind | 0.4025 *** (0.065) | |||
City fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Year fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Observations | 628,903 | 628,903 | 628,903 | 628,903 |
R2 | 0.274 | 0.276 | 0.276 | 0.276 |
Variable | (1) lnExpyShen | (2) lnExpyHau | (3) lnExpy | (4) lnHtvol | (5) Htratio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
lnEr | 0.0060 *** | 0.0019 ** | 0.0104 ** | 0.0359 *** | 0.0021 *** |
(0.002) | (0.001) | (0.005) | (0.010) | (0.001) | |
lnSize | 0.0093 *** | −0.0042 *** | 0.0071 ** | 0.5377 *** | 0.0110 *** |
(0.002) | (0.001) | (0.003) | (0.012) | (0.001) | |
lnAge | −0.0243 *** | −0.0090 *** | −0.0221 *** | −0.1959 *** | −0.0067 *** |
(0.004) | (0.001) | (0.005) | (0.017) | (0.001) | |
lnCapital | 0.0380 *** | 0.0281 *** | 0.0403 *** | 0.0786 *** | −0.0002 |
(0.002) | (0.001) | (0.002) | (0.008) | (0.000) | |
Finance | −0.0250 *** | −0.0157 *** | −0.0531 *** | −0.0689 * | −0.0026 |
(0.008) | (0.003) | (0.010) | (0.036) | (0.002) | |
HHI | 0.1243 | 0.4632 *** | −0.0344 | 4.5074 *** | 0.1254 *** |
(0.077) | (0.035) | (0.103) | (0.456) | (0.027) | |
Cityind | 0.3636 *** | −0.0837 *** | 0.4404 *** | 3.0287 *** | 0.0316 ** |
(0.056) | (0.024) | (0.080) | (0.261) | (0.016) | |
City fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Year fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Observations | 628,903 | 628,903 | 467,046 | 628,903 | 628,903 |
R2 | 0.294 | 0.446 | 0.291 | 0.401 | 0.373 |
Variable | (1) lnExpy (General) | (2) lnExpy (Processing) | (3) lnExpy (Mixed) |
---|---|---|---|
lnEr | 0.0112 *** (0.003) | −0.0118 (0.008) | 0.0094 ** (0.005) |
lnSize | −0.0074 ** | 0.0223 *** | 0.0157 *** |
(0.003) | (0.007) | (0.005) | |
lnAge | −0.0067 | −0.0482 *** | −0.0274 *** |
(0.005) | (0.012) | (0.008) | |
lnCapital | 0.0292 *** | 0.0590 *** | 0.0489 *** |
(0.002) | (0.006) | (0.004) | |
Finance | −0.0284 *** | −0.0955 *** | −0.0788 *** |
(0.011) | (0.024) | (0.016) | |
HHI | −0.0524 | 0.8420 *** | −0.0514 |
(0.116) | (0.243) | (0.146) | |
Cityind | 0.1927 ** | 0.3967 ** | 0.9252 *** |
(0.092) | (0.180) | (0.117) | |
City fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Year fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Observations | 390,112 | 68,400 | 170,361 |
R2 | 0.244 | 0.355 | 0.355 |
Variable | (1) lnExpy (Labor) | (2) lnExpy (Captial) | (3) lnExpy (Tech) |
---|---|---|---|
lnEr | 0.0158 *** | −0.0072 | 0.0091 *** |
(0.005) | (0.005) | (0.004) | |
lnSize | −0.0231 *** | 0.0300 *** | 0.0147 *** |
(0.005) | (0.006) | (0.004) | |
lnAge | 0.0012 | −0.0215 ** | −0.0301 *** |
(0.008) | (0.008) | (0.006) | |
lnCapital | 0.0530 *** | 0.0443 *** | 0.0265 *** |
(0.004) | (0.004) | (0.003) | |
Finance | 0.0043 | −0.0862 *** | −0.0920 *** |
(0.016) | (0.019) | (0.013) | |
HHI | 1.8134 *** | −0.6366 *** | −0.5129 *** |
(0.228) | (0.233) | (0.108) | |
Cityind | 1.0671 *** | 0.1768 | 0.0234 |
(0.126) | (0.130) | (0.095) | |
City fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Year fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Observations | 190,033 | 153,025 | 252,323 |
R2 | 0.229 | 0.117 | 0.059 |
Variable | (1) lnExpy (Eastern) | (2) lnExpy (Central) | (3) lnExpy (Western) |
---|---|---|---|
lnEr | 0.0080 *** (0.003) | 0.0028 (0.009) | 0.0264 ** (0.013) |
lnSize | 0.0085 *** | 0.0013 | −0.0052 |
(0.003) | (0.009) | (0.014) | |
lnAge | −0.0134 *** | −0.0138 | −0.0513 ** |
(0.005) | (0.013) | (0.021) | |
lnCapital | 0.0376 *** | 0.0456 *** | 0.0386 *** |
(0.002) | (0.007) | (0.010) | |
Finance | −0.0488 *** | 0.0165 | −0.1371 *** |
(0.010) | (0.032) | (0.050) | |
HHI | 0.0389 | −0.1366 | −0.4287 |
(0.092) | (0.386) | (0.590) | |
Cityind | 0.4754 *** | −0.2654 | 0.3731 |
(0.075) | (0.286) | (0.370) | |
City fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Year fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Observations | 565,858 | 41,922 | 21,123 |
R2 | 0.280 | 0.259 | 0.278 |
Variable | (1) lnExpy | (2) lnExpyHau | (3) lnHtratio | (4) lnHtvol |
---|---|---|---|---|
lnEr | 0.0069 *** (0.003) | 0.0009 (0.001) | 0.0008 (0.001) | −0.0009 (0.010) |
InPat | −0.0013 (0.005) | 0.0024 (0.002) | −0.0029 ** (0.001) | −0.0088 (0.022) |
lnEr × lnPat | 0.0019 ** (0.001) | 0.0014 *** (0.000) | 0.0013 *** (0.000) | 0.0438 *** (0.004) |
lnSize | 0.0070 *** | −0.0042 *** | 0.0110 *** | 0.5389 *** |
(0.003) | (0.001) | (0.001) | (0.012) | |
lnAge | −0.0162 *** | −0.0090 *** | −0.0066 *** | −0.1940 *** |
(0.004) | (0.001) | (0.001) | (0.017) | |
lnCapital | 0.0380 *** | 0.0281 *** | −0.0002 | 0.0788 *** |
(0.002) | (0.001) | (0.000) | (0.008) | |
Finance | −0.0493 *** | −0.0157 *** | −0.0026 | −0.0700 * |
(0.009) | (0.003) | (0.002) | (0.036) | |
HHI | 0.0241 | 0.4667 *** | 0.1256 *** | 4.5066 *** |
(0.090) | (0.034) | (0.027) | (0.456) | |
Cityind | 0.4209 *** | −0.0713 *** | 0.0438 *** | 3.4277 *** |
(0.066) | (0.025) | (0.016) | (0.268) | |
City fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Industry fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Year fixed effect | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Observations | 628,866 | 628,866 | 628,866 | 628,866 |
R2 | 0.276 | 0.446 | 0.373 | 0.401 |
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Song, G.; Ding, C. How Do Local Environmental Regulations Affect the Export Technological Complexity of Enterprises? Sustainability 2024, 16, 7709. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177709
Song G, Ding C. How Do Local Environmental Regulations Affect the Export Technological Complexity of Enterprises? Sustainability. 2024; 16(17):7709. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177709
Chicago/Turabian StyleSong, Guohao, and Chunlin Ding. 2024. "How Do Local Environmental Regulations Affect the Export Technological Complexity of Enterprises?" Sustainability 16, no. 17: 7709. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177709