摘要：绿色技术创新成为推动经济高质量发展的关键引擎，环保执法作为一种“硬约束”，对企业绿色技术创新起到了重要作用。文章基于2010—2020年企业层面环保处罚数据和上市公司绿色专利数据，利用泊松回归方法，实证考察了环保执法对企业绿色技术创新的影响效应及其微观作用机制。研究发现，环保执法能够促进企业层面的绿色技术创新，这一结论在更换被解释变量、改变计量回归方法等一系列稳健性检验之后依然成立。机制分析表明，环保执法对企业绿色技术创新具有创新补偿效应，刺激企业增加绿色投资，促进企业进行绿色技术创新；长期来看，绿色投资是环保执法促进企业绿色技术创新稳定且持续的机制。环保执法对企业绿色技术创新具有成本效应，环保处罚会增加企业绿色费用，从而在一定程度上抑制企业绿色技术创新。异质性分析表明环保执法对国有企业和重污染企业绿色技术创新的影响更为显著，环保执法虽然促进了企业绿色专利数量的增加，但并没有促进企业的绿色专利质量的提高；相较于警告类和罚款类环保执法，没收查封扣押类环保执法更能产生威慑作用，激励企业进行绿色技术创新。本文为理解绿色技术创新动因提供了新的视角，同时也为进一步完善环保执法体系和实现经济高质量发展提供了学理支持和决策参考。
关键词：环保执法；绿色投资；绿色费用；绿色技术创新
The Innovation Compensation of Environmental Law Enforcement: Evidence from the Green Technology Innovation of Companies
Abstract：The innovation of green technologies has emerged as a pivotal catalyst for propelling high-quality economic development. Within this context, environmental law enforcement, characterized as a hard constraint, raises the question of its potential efficacy in fostering corporate innovation in green technologies. Grounded in corporate-level environmental penalty data spanning the years 2010-2020 and green patent data from listed companies, the empirical investigation utilizes a Poisson regression model to scrutinize the impact effects of environmental law enforcement on corporate green technological innovation, along with its micro-level operative mechanisms. The research found that the environmental law enforcement demonstrates a propensity to stimulate green technological innovation at the corporate level, a conclusion robustly upheld through a battery of sensitivity analyses involving the replacement of dependent variables and alterations in econometric regression methodologies. Mechanism analysis reveals that environmental law enforcement engenders an innovation compensation effect on corporate green technological innovation, acting as a stimulus for companies to augment green investments, thereby facilitating endeavors in green technological innovation. Over the long term, green investment emerges as a mechanism through which environmental law enforcement consistently and durably fosters corporate green technological innovation. Environmental law enforcement manifests a cost effect on corporate green technological innovation, as environmental penalties are found to escalate a company's green expenditures, consequently exerting a moderating influence on the pursuit of green technological innovation. Heterogeneity analysis indicates a more pronounced impact of environmental law enforcement on green technological innovation for state-owned enterprises and those entities associated with significant environmental pollution. Despite the observed stimulation in the quantity of corporate green patents, environmental law enforcement does not concurrently elevate the quality of such patents. In contrast to warning-oriented and fine-based environmental law enforcement, the confiscation, sealing, and seizure approach demonstrates a heightened capacity for deterrent impact, thereby serving as an incentivizing mechanism for enterprises to undertake innovations in green technologies. In its entirety, this study provides a novel perspective for comprehending the impetus driving green technological innovation, while concurrently offering scholarly substantiation and decision-making guidance for the refinement of environmental law enforcement frameworks and the realization of high-quality economic development.
Keywords: Environmental Law Enforcement; Green Investment; Green Cost; Green Technology Innovation
