Environmental Regulation,Technological Innovation And Enterprise Migration

With the concept of "clear water and green mountains are gold and silver mountains" gaining popularity,the construction of ecological civilization pushes sustainable development to the height of green development.At the same time,the rapid development of the new industrial economy makes environmental regulation become one of the important considerations for the relocation decision of heavy polluting enterprises.On the one hand,the decision of enterprise migration is strictly constrained by formal environmental regulations;on the other hand,the emergence of informal environmental regulations has also become an important influencing variable of the decision of enterprise migration.So what are the industries that are migrating the most today? What is the direction of migration? How do two different environmental regulations affect the relocation decision of enterprises? Is there a difference? Whether technological innovation can win the decision advantage for enterprises,and how to turn regulation into advantage? It is no longer a passive choice of migration decisions,and it is worth considering whether there are differences in the migration behaviors of different enterprises with different nature and size under the influence of environmental regulations.Based on "Pollution Haven Hypothesis","Porter Hypothesis","Neoclassical Economics Hypothesis","Cost Decision Theory" and social responsibility theory,this paper selects the panel data of 282 A-share listed companies with heavy pollution during 2012-2018 as the research samples,identifies 63 companies that have migrated from one place to another,accounting for 22.34%,and establishes A total of 140 subsidiaries.Furthermore,Poisson regression model is used to test and confirm the relationship between environmental regulation and enterprise migration,and the mechanism of technological innovation is also discussed.The results show that :(1)Among the heavy polluting enterprises,the industries with the most relocation are the manufacturing of chemical raw materials and chemical products;(2)The migration of enterprises was mainly concentrated in the heavy polluting enterprises located in the east before the migration,and the migration route frequencies were in the order of "east-east" migration,"east-central" migration,and "east-west" migration.(3)Both formal environmental regulations and informal environmental regulations affect enterprise migration,and there is a significant negative correlation between formal environmental regulations and relocation of heavy polluting enterprises.There is a significant positive correlation between informal environmental regulation and relocation of heavily polluted listed firms.(4)The two types of environmental regulations have opposite effects on enterprise migration,which may be due to the different starting points of formal environmental regulations and informal environmental regulations;(5)The ability of technological innovation can win the initiative of decision-making for firms,which is mainly reflected in that:technological innovation results have a significant mediating effect on the two types of environmental regulation and firm migration;But the input of technological innovation does not pass the test of mediating effect;(6)Compared with state-owned enterprises,the migration of non-state-owned enterprises is more affected by informal environmental regulations and formal environmental regulations;(7)After distinguishing the size of enterprises,it is found that small-scale enterprises are more affected by formal environmental regulations,while large-scale enterprises are more affected by informal environmental regulations.In this paper,a negative binomial regression model was used to verify the robustness of the results.This paper analyzes the impact of two different types of environmental regulations on the relocation behavior of heavy polluting enterprises,provides empirical evidence for the relocation decision of enterprises,expands the existing research content on the relocation behavior of enterprises,and puts forward policy suggestions from both the government and enterprises based on the research conclusions: For the government,regulation should be optimized,supervision should be strengthened,informal environmental regulation platform should be standardized,and the public should be encouraged to actively participate in the action of environmental protection.For enterprises,they should take the initiative to assume the social responsibility of environmental protection,give play to the practical role of patents,and help the battle of environmental protection.