Natural disaster and corporate green innovation: Evidence from earthquakes

Abstract

This paper investigates whether the occurrence of earthquakes affects firms' green innovation. Using Chinese non-financial listed companies from 2006 to 2020, we find that the occurrence of earthquake has a significant negative effect on corporate green innovation. This finding holds after a series tests to deal with possible endogeneity issues. We further verify that earthquakes inhibit firms' green innovation by reducing firms' sales revenue and increasing firms' agency costs. Heterogeneity analysis further demonstrates that earthquakes have a greater impact on firms with high innovation investment, lower analysts' attention, and those located in more economically developed regions. Overall, our findings suggest that earthquakes influence the behavior of market participants and the economic decisions of firms.