School of Business, Jishou University, Jishou, 416000, Hunan, China.
School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Aug;30(39):90830-90843. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-28656-w. Epub 2023 Jul 18.
Under the dual pressure of environment and employment, it has been a hot topic whether government departments can achieve the double dividend of "environmental improvement" and "employment promotion" via reasonable market-based environmental regulation. In light of the exogenous policy event of the carbon emission trading scheme (ETS), this study investigates the impact of ETS on the corporate labor investment efficiency of a sample of industrial companies listed in China's A-share from 2007 to 2020. The study reveals that the ETS can significantly improve corporate labor investment efficiency. Further research finds that the promotion of green technology innovation and alleviation of financing constraints as crucial mechanisms by which ETS affects corporate labor investment efficiency; the ETS improves the corporate labor investment efficiency more significantly in enterprises with a lower marketization degree, lower labor intensity, and non-state-owned enterprises. The improvement of labor investment efficiency by the ETS is associated with the amelioration of labor under-investment and suppression of over-investment. Furthermore, the improvement of labor investment efficiency by the ETS can enhance enterprises' productivity. In light of these findings, this study provides suggestions for the improvement of ETS from the microscopic perspective of firms and offers ideas for the improvement of corporate labor investment efficiency.
在环境和就业的双重压力下，政府部门能否通过合理的市场化环境监管实现“环境改善”和“促进就业”的双重红利，一直是一个热门话题。本文以碳排放交易体系（ETS）这一外生政策事件为切入点，利用 2007-2020 年中国 A 股工业企业的样本数据，考察了 ETS 对企业劳动投资效率的影响。研究结果表明，ETS 显著提高了企业劳动投资效率。进一步研究发现，绿色技术创新的推动和融资约束的缓解是 ETS 影响企业劳动投资效率的关键机制；ETS 对市场化程度较低、劳动强度较低和非国有企业的企业劳动投资效率的提升作用更为显著。ETS 通过改善劳动投资不足和抑制过度投资来提高劳动投资效率。此外，ETS 的劳动投资效率提升有助于提高企业的生产力。基于这些发现，本文从企业微观角度为 ETS 的完善提供了建议，并为提高企业劳动投资效率提供了思路。
