환경규제가 기업의 기술혁신에 미치는 영향: 기업 금융화의 시각으로

Purpose - This study aims to investigate the impact of the new ‘Environmental Law’ implemented in China in 2015 on corporate technological innovation. By incorporating the issue of corporate financialization, which has recently attracted much attention in various countries, into the research framework, we aim to explain the relationship among environmental regulation, corporate financialization, and technological innovation. Design/methodology/approach - In this paper, we use the data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2022 and use the Difference-in-Differences (DID) method to investigate the impact of the implementation of China’s new ‘Environmental Law’ (2015) on the technological innovation of polluting companies. Findings - According to research results, the new ‘Environmental Law’ (2015) has significantly improved the level of technological innovation of polluting companies. This conclusion remains valid in a series of robustness tests. Additional mechanism analysis results show that corporate financialization plays a partial mediating role in the path of the impact of the new “Environmental Law” on the technological innovation of polluting companies. In other words, the environmental, legal, and construction shock caused by the new “Environmental Law” corrects the short-sighted behavior of polluting companies, lowers the allocation ratio for financial assets, and improves the level of technological innovation by investing resources in technology research and development activities. In addition, the heterogeneity analysis results show that the impact of the new ‘Environmental Law’ on the technological innovation of polluting companies is more evident in state-owned enterprises, large companies, and medium-financialization level companies. Research implications or Originality - This study analyzes the impact of environmental regulations on corporate financialization and the internal mechanisms of technological innovation from the perspective of corporate financialization. The results of the study provide empirical evidence for establishing policies and regulations related to technological innovation and environmental protection of polluting companies.