Doing good in times of need: Green finance policy and strategic corporate social responsibility

IF 7.9 2区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Economic Analysis and Policy Pub Date : 2024-10-11 DOI:10.1016/j.eap.2024.10.008

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Abstract

This study investigates the effect of a green finance policy on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of firms in heavily polluting industries. Based on the 2017 policy of the People's Bank of China (PBC), which incorporates green finance into its macroprudential assessment system, we employ the difference-in-differences method to show that firms in heavily polluting industries have significantly improved their CSR performance after the implementation of the PBC's green finance policy. In response to the negative effect of the PBC's policy on their financial position, affected firms strategically engage in CSR activities in the hope that appearing socially responsible will help them recover from their adverse position. Furthermore, firms in heavily polluting industries that enhance their CSR performance after the PBC's policy have benefited from reduced bank credit transaction costs and have obtained more bank loans. The improvement in CSR performance is mainly concentrated in firms that are non-state-owned, small in size, highly dependent on external financing, and receiving more media attention. Overall, this study reveals a social consequence of the PBC's green finance policy on the CSR performance.

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在需要的时候做好事：绿色金融政策和战略性企业社会责任

本研究探讨了绿色金融政策对重污染行业企业社会责任（CSR）活动的影响。基于中国人民银行（PBC）2017年将绿色金融纳入宏观审慎评估体系的政策，我们采用差分法表明，在中国人民银行绿色金融政策实施后，重污染行业企业的企业社会责任绩效得到了显著改善。由于中国人民银行的政策对其财务状况产生了负面影响，受影响的企业有策略地参与企业社会责任活动，希望以社会责任的形象帮助其从不利地位中恢复过来。此外，重污染行业的企业在中国人民银行的政策出台后提高了企业社会责任表现，从而受益于银行信贷交易成本的降低，获得了更多的银行贷款。企业社会责任绩效的提高主要集中在非国有企业、规模较小、高度依赖外部融资以及媒体关注度较高的企业。总体而言，本研究揭示了中国人民银行绿色金融政策对企业社会责任绩效的社会影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Economic Analysis and Policy ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

9.80

自引率

9.20%

发文量

231

审稿时长

93 days

期刊介绍： Economic Analysis and Policy (established 1970) publishes articles from all branches of economics with a particular focus on research, theoretical and applied, which has strong policy relevance. The journal also publishes survey articles and empirical replications on key policy issues. Authors are expected to highlight the main insights in a non-technical introduction and in the conclusion.