Study of Environmental Information Disclosure under the Hypothesis of Political Cost-Based on PM2.5 Burst Event

Abstract

This paper selects the A shares listed companies during 2009-2016 years on the Shanghai stock exchange as samples, and explores the influence mechanism of environmental information disclosure from the angle of political cost. The results showed that the environmental information disclosure of heavy polluting enterprises was significantly improved compared to the non-heavy polluting enterprises after PM2.5 burst event at later 2011, and it was particularly significant in the subsamples of state-owned and low-equity-concentration enterprises. It indicates that the change of macro natural environment is also one of the sources of political cost for heavy polluting enterprises, and then affects its environment information disclosure. The results are of great practical significance for establishing and improving the corporate social responsibility reporting system and strengthening the regulation of related policies.