The Impact Of Environmental Regulation On Corporate Wage Distortion In The Context Of Corporate Financializatio

Due to the imperfection of the market system,the wages of Chinese enterprises are generally downwardly distorted,and the mismatch between labor and remuneration prevents workers from fully sharing the fruits of economic development.Simultaneously,China has attached great importance to the problem of environmental pollution,and gradually formed a relatively comprehensive environmental policy system.Under the role of environmental regulation,the cost of environmental governance increases,and enterprises may pass on costs by reducing wages and increasing product prices,which will aggravate the distortion of corporate wages.Sustainable development should not only focus on the amelioration of the environment,but also consider the impact of environmental regulation on the economy and society.Therefore,researching the possible social effects of environmental regulation is very crucial to the sustainable and high-quality development of the economy.In the meantime,there is an increasing trend in the transformation of the economic activity from substantial to fictitious,and the proportion of corporate financial investment is getting higher and higher.Financialization has not only changed the distribution of funds and profits of enterprises,but also has a "crowding-out" effect on the main business of enterprises,which may deepen the distortion of corporate wages caused by environmental regulation.Based on the special background of corporate financialization,this paper systematically studies the impact of environmental regulation on the degree of corporate wage distortion.It not only provides evidence and explanation for the relationship between environmental regulation,corporate financialization and corporate wage distortion from the micro-enterprise level,but also provides policy inspiration for formulating appropriate environmental regulation policies,preventing over-financialization of real enterprises,and alleviating the problem of wage distortions of enterprise employees.This paper is the first to identify the relationship between environmental regulation and wage distortion in industrial enterprises from the perspective of enterprises and examines the moderating effect of corporate financialization on the relationship between environmental regulation and enterprise wage distortion.This paper systematically sorts out the relevant literature on corporate wage distortion,environmental regulation,and corporate financialization,and constructs and discusses the adjustment mechanism of corporate financialization.On the basis of theoretical analysis,using the panel fixed effect model and the moderating effect model,this paper empirically tests the distorting effect of environmental regulation on corporate wages and the moderating effect of financialization,and finally conducts heterogeneity analysis at the industry level,regional level,and enterprise level.The study found:First,environmental regulation significantly exacerbates the distortion of corporate wages.On the one hand,environmental regulation promotes enterprise innovation,and promotes the marginal output of labor by improving the level of production technology.On the other hand,environmental regulation makes enterprises pass on costs to laborers,which makes the efforts of enterprise employees not proportional to the returns,which adversely affects the distortion of enterprise wages.Second,corporate financialization amplifies the distortion of corporate wages by environmental regulation.The financialization activities of enterprises not only changed the distribution of funds and profits of enterprises,but also produced a "crowding-out" effect on real production activities.The “crowding-out” of the main business of enterprises by financialization reduces the demand for labor and weakens the bargaining power of labor,thus deepening the distortion of corporate wages caused by environmental regulation.Third,environmental regulation exacerbates the distortion of corporate wages through the "marginal output" mechanism and the "real wage" mechanism,while the financialization of enterprises suppresses wage growth through the channels of "costwage" and "environment-supply and demand",which increases the distorting effect of environmental regulation on corporate wages.Fourth,the distorting effect of environmental regulation on corporate wages and the moderating effect of financialization are heterogeneous in different industries,regions,and companies.Compared with industries with fierce competition,in industries with less competition or even monopoly,environmental regulation distorts corporate wages more significantly.Compared with regions with low agglomeration,the distorting effect of environmental regulation on wages is more significant in regions with high agglomeration.Compared with well-funded firms,the moderating effect of financialization is more pronounced in firms with higher financing constraints.The research of this paper has the following policy implications: First,the key to alleviating the distortion of corporate wages lies in how to increase the real wages of corporate employees.Enterprises should pay attention to the distribution of wages,so that wages and labor productivity can grow synchronously.The government should formulate relevant laws to protect the rights and interests of laborers;improve the role of trade unions and reinforce the bargaining power of laborers;strive to improve the market competition mechanism and use market forces to alleviate wage distortions.Secondly,formulate appropriate environmental regulation policies from the perspective of development,and focus on developing market-oriented incentive environmental regulation tools.Environmental improvement is a long-term change,and the government should consider the technological level,the cash flow of enterprises,and the heterogeneity of industries and regions,and set reasonable environmental policies and pollutant discharge targets.Finally,highlight the harm of corporate financialization to entities,and prevent excessive financialization of entity enterprises.Managers should focus less on short-term benefits and consider long-term impacts when making corporate decisions.By improving the capital market,the government can reduce arbitrage behavior in the market and alleviate the excessive financialization of enterprises.