The Impact Of Environmental Regulation On The Export Performance Of Heavy Mental Polluting Firms

Environmental regulation is an important way to coordinate the relationship between economic development and the ecological environment.As the contradiction between China’s economic development and environmental pollution has gradually become prominent,a series of environmental policies aimed at polluting industries and polluting firms have been launched.In order to effectively alleviate heavy metal pollution in China,the Ministry of Ecology and Environment,together with several ministries and commissions of the CPC Central Committee,formulated the Heavy Metal Pollution Comprehensive Prevention Plan during “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” in 2011.As the first special plan in the field of heavy metal pollution,it aims to focus on the control of the key industries and firms of heavy metal pollution.Since then,the situation of heavy metal pollution has been greatly improved,and China’s heavy metal pollution prevention and control work has entered a new era of limiting emissions and putting equal emphasis on risk prevention and control.However,the impact of environmental regulation on economic growth,especially export trade,has always been controversial.On the one hand,environmental regulation will increase the “compliance cost” of pollution control,thus reducing the export competitive advantage of firms.On the other hand,under the pressure of environmental regulations,polluting firms can obtain “innovation compensation” through technological upgrading,which helps to improve production efficiency and export advantages.Therefore,it is particularly important to examine the relationship between environmental policy constraints and firms’ exports under the background of rising trade protectionism,impeded globalization process and declining driving force of exports for China’s economic growth.Existing studies have provided a macro perspective and theoretical basis for us to analyze the relationship between environmental regulation and trade.However,from a micro perspective,there are still relatively few studies on how environmental policies affect the export performance of polluting firms.In order to explore the impact of environmental regulation on the export performance of polluting firms,this paper comprehensively reviewed the relevant research results on environmental regulation and export of firms at home and abroad.On the basis of combing and summarizing the existing literature,this paper deeply understands the theoretical mechanism and empirical research on the impact of environmental regulation on firm’ export.Then,based on the data of Chinese industrial firms and customs import and export data from2007 to 2013,this paper investigates the impact of the Heavy Metal Pollution Comprehensive Prevention Plan during “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” on the export performance of heavy metal polluters by using the differential method and the mediating effect model.The results show that after the implementation of the Heavy Metal Pollution Prevention Plan,the “innovation compensation” effect of heavy metal polluters is insufficient,and the “spatial self-selection”effect is limited,and the polluters tend to maintain export through export product conversion.For example,the types of export products decreased,the scale of export and the proportion of the export of polluting products decreased.Heterogeneity analysis showed that the Heavy Metal Pollution Prevention Plan had a significant inhibiting effect on the export scale of stateowned firms,and had a significant effect on the overall export of firms in areas with abundant green invention patents and areas with high public participation in environmental protection.According to the research conclusions,the following countermeasures and suggestions are proposed: the central and local governments should continue to follow up the construction of legislation and supervision system for the prevention and control of Heavy Metal Pollution,and establish a normal mechanism;Gradually improve our environmental regulation system construction and policy system;Formulating and promoting environmental policies and industrial policies for heavily polluting industries according to local conditions;Polluting firms should fully mobilize their consciousness of environmental protection,grasp policy opportunities,and actively change their production and export strategies.