School of Credit Management, Guangdong University of Finance, Guangzhou, 510521, China.
Business School, Shantou University, Shantou, 515063, China.
J Environ Manage. 2023 Oct 15;344:118739. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118739. Epub 2023 Aug 8.
Local government debt plays a vital role in achieving financial financialization and regional economic growth. However, the environmental side effects of the debt-financed infrastructure development model have received little attention. Using a large panel data of Chinese enterprises from 2007 to 2016, we explored the relationship between local government debt in terms of urban investment bonds and corporate pollution emission. We observe that the increase in local government debt exaggerates the intensity of COD emission, equal to 26% of the average. This pollution-promoting effect remains after a series of robust checks. In heterogeneous analysis, local government debt is more likely to affect enterprises located in coastal areas, from pollution intensive industry, operating in regions with weak fiscal strength and operating in regions with low governance quality. The mechanistic exploration from government environmental governance and financial constraint reveals that the local government debt increases corporate pollution when the local fiscal finance emphasizes economy over environmental governance, which has been alleviated after the central government advocates the construction of an environmentally friendly and resource-saving society; An increase of corporate pollution is also possible when local government debt increases the financing constraints of enterprises. We also unveil the source of corporate pollution, and find that if enterprises do not actively adopt environmental strategies either in terms of "end-of-pipe" or "source prevention", they choose to emit more to face with the onslaught of local debt. This study uncovers the environmental impacts of government debt, and explores the potential mechanisms, which can help reduce pollution from local government debt and achieve global climate governance.
地方政府债务在实现金融化和区域经济增长方面发挥着至关重要的作用。然而，债务融资的基础设施发展模式的环境副作用却很少受到关注。本文利用 2007 年至 2016 年中国企业的大型面板数据，探讨了城市投资债券形式的地方政府债务与企业污染排放之间的关系。我们观察到，地方政府债务的增加夸大了 COD 排放的强度，相当于平均水平的 26%。在一系列稳健性检验后，这种促进污染的效应仍然存在。在异质性分析中，地方政府债务更有可能影响位于沿海地区、来自污染密集型产业、在财政实力较弱的地区运营以及在治理质量较低的地区运营的企业。从政府环境治理和金融约束的机制探索中揭示，当地方财政强调经济而不是环境治理时，地方政府债务会增加企业的污染，而在中央政府倡导建设环境友好型和资源节约型社会后，这种情况有所缓解；当地方政府债务增加企业的融资约束时，企业的污染也可能增加。我们还揭示了企业污染的来源，并发现如果企业不积极采取“末端治理”或“源头预防”的环境策略，它们会选择排放更多的污染物来应对地方债务的冲击。本研究揭示了政府债务的环境影响，并探讨了潜在的机制，这有助于减少地方政府债务造成的污染，实现全球气候治理。
