Financial Constraints and the Effectiveness of Green Finance – Evidence from China’s Reform Pilot Zones –

초록

This study evaluates the effectiveness of China’s Green Finance Reform Pilot Zones (GFRPZ) in promoting firm-level green innovation, with an emphasis on heterogeneous impacts shaped by firms’ financial structures and institutional environments. Utilizing a difference-in-differences-in-differences (DDD) framework embedded in a random-effects panel Tobit model, we analyze a panel dataset comprising 4,477 A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2022. The empirical findings reveal that, at the full-sample level, the GFRPZ policy does not significantly enhance green innovation. However, once financial heterogeneity is considered, the policy exhibits significantly positive effects among firms with higher external financing dependence. The coefficient on the triple interaction term (Treat × Post × HighFinD) remains robust across multiple specifications, highlighting that alleviating financial frictions is crucial to policy effectiveness. The heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the reform exerts a stronger effect in state-owned enterprises, non-high-polluting firms, and those located in central and western regions—suggesting that institutional proximity, operational flexibility, and regional financial infrastructure jointly shape firm responsiveness. Robustness checks, including placebo and dynamic event-study analyses, reinforce the validity of the findings. These results suggest that green finance reforms should be differentiated according to firm-level financing constraints and regional development levels. Policies that expand access to green credit, improve capital allocation efficiency, and target financially constrained firms can generate more inclusive and impactful outcomes in driving the green transition.

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