The Impact of Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone Policy on Firm-Level Total Factor Productivity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/dv6bz203Keywords:
Green finance, Total factor productivity, R&D investment, Carbon performance.Abstract
Against global climate change and China’s “Dual Carbon” targets, green finance has evolved from pilot to institutionalized frameworks. While China leads in green finance market size via policy innovation, the micro-mechanisms driving firm transformation and policy efficacy remain under-researched. Using the green finance reform and innovation pilot zone policy as a quasi-natural experiment, this research employs a multi-time point difference in difference model with 2010–2022 A-share listed firm data to examine its impact on total factor productivity. Results show the policy significantly suppresses firm total factor productivity, with robustness confirmed via parallel trends and multiple robustness tests. Structural heterogeneity exists: larger firms and those with higher institutional ownership experience stronger total factor productivity declines, reflecting asymmetric transition costs. Firms partially offset these effects through adaptive strategies like increased R&D and improved carbon performance, revealing a “constraint-innovation” dynamic. Finally, based on the empirical results, this research puts forward relevant policy suggestions.
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