Can New-Type Urbanization Promote Enterprise Green Technology Innovation?—A Study Based on Difference-in-Differences Model

Abstract

China proposed a new-type urbanization (NTU) strategy in 2012 to solve ecological and environmental problems caused by the traditional rapid and rough urbanization development model. Focusing on the policy’s important goal of building green and smart cities, it is crucial to explore whether the pilot of NTU promotes green innovation at the enterprise level, and thus achieves green environmental protection. Based on data from 1717 Chinese listed companies’ green patent applications between 2011 and 2020, this paper studies the impact effect of NTU on enterprises’ green technology innovation utilizing the difference-in-difference model combined with the PSM-DID method. The findings indicate that: NTU has a substantial effect on enterprise innovation in green technologies. The mechanism analysis shows that NTU can encourage green technology innovation in enterprises by easing their financial restrictions. This requires the government to encourage enterprises to engage in green technology innovation by alleviating their financing constraints and reducing their debt financing costs through policy incentives and financial subsidies. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of the policy on green innovation is more significant in the central and western regions, highly marketable areas, non-heavy-polluting industries, and among enterprises with higher levels of green innovation.