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Environmental regulation policies demonstrate a tendency toward diversification, and different environmental regulation tools have different effects on the investment efficiency of heavy polluters. Little is known about the effect of various forms of environmental restrictions on the efficacy of company investment. This paper uses a fixed-effects model and a threshold-effects model to investigate the differential effects and synergies of environmental regulatory instruments on firms’ investment efficiency using a sample of Chinese heavy polluters listed on A-shares in Shenzhen and Shanghai between 2011 and 2019. According to the study’s findings, command-and-control environmental regulations have a considerable detrimental impact on the investment efficiency of state-owned heavy polluters. Market-incentivized environmental regulations significantly increase the efficiency of investment by heavy polluters, and the effect is successful in the long run. Further analysis reveals that command-and-control environmental regulations and market-incentive environmental regulations influence each other; there is a threshold effect for one environmental regulation when another environmental regulation influences the investment efficiency of heavy polluters. The two types of environmental regulations also play a synergistic role within a reasonable intensity to improve the investment efficiency of heavily polluting enterprises. The study’s findings provide empirical evidence for firms to improve their ability to respond to external environmental policy changes in pursuit of high-quality development, as well as guidance for governments to optimize environmental regulation policies and better coordinate the use of environmental regulation tools to achieve better environmental and economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) has become a buzzword in investment circles as ecological damage and climate warming occur. ESG assessment is one of the important institutions of the green financial system, which plays a significant part in boosting corporate green development. We use the number of green patent applications and green patent citations to measure corporate green innovation and analyze the micro-green effects of the ESG score system using the panel fixed effects models, which means that we explore the impact of the ESG scores on corporate green innovation performance, the specific mechanism of this effect, and the asymmetry of this impact under different moderation effects by using Chinese listed A-shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2010–2019 as our research sample. We find that ESG positively affects corporate green innovation; the higher the ESG evaluation, the more it improves firms' green innovation performance. The promotion effect is reflected quantitatively and qualitatively and remains valid after several robustness tests. In addition, the contribution of ESG to corporate green innovation is achieved through two main paths improving corporate investment efficiency and government-enterprise relations. Corporate black attributes inhibit the contribution of ESG to green innovation, while green attributes strengthen the contribution of ESG to green innovation performance. Our study demonstrates the importance of corporate participation in environmental, social, and governance practices for corporate green innovation, which is beneficial for achieving win-win environmental, social, and economic results. Furthermore, our research completes the research on the effects of corporate green performance and green finance. It can provide empirical references for promoting corporate green development and improving the ESG evaluation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation plays an important role in reshaping the core competitiveness of enterprises and achieving high-quality development. Based on panel data of Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2009 to 2019, this study examines the impact of digital transformation on corporate internals from the perspective of corporate tax avoidance. It finds that digital transformation significantly inhibits corporate tax avoidance by improving the quality of corporate internal controls; its inhibitory effect on corporate tax avoidance shows significant heterogeneity when firms are in different tax collection intensities and receive different amounts of government subsidies; and the inhibition of corporate tax avoidance significantly improves the efficiency of corporate investment. The research in this study expands the theoretical understanding of digital transformation and corporate tax avoidance and provides relevant insights for the government to promote the deep integration of the digital economy with the real economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]