Abstract
The core issue for China’s economy to shift from high-speed growth to high-quality development is to raise total factor productivity (TFP). Based on the data of A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2017 and the air quality monitoring data released by the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, this paper conducts an empirical test on the relationship between haze pollution, labor productivity, and firm-level TFP by using the mediation effect test model. The results show the following: First, haze pollution will reduce a firm’s TFP. Second, labor productivity plays a partial intermediary role between haze pollution and a firm’s TFP. Haze pollution will not only have a direct negative impact on a firm-level TFP but also reduce a firm-level TFP by reducing labor productivity. Subsequently, the robustness test was carried out by means of a substitution of independent variables and dependent variables, and the results all supported the hypotheses in this paper. In addition, the heterogeneity of the industry and the ownership of listed companies was analyzed, and the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method was used to solve the endogeneity problem. The conclusions of this paper are helpful to clarify the relationship between haze pollution, firm factor productivity, and firm-level TFP. The paper’s findings also provide a practical basis for firms to further improve TFP from the perspective of air pollution problems such as haze.
Highlights
From 1978 to 2015, China’s economy grew at an average annual speed of 9.69%, creating a “miracle of growth” that has attracted worldwide attention
In M3, the coefficient of labor productivity on a firm’s total factor productivity (TFP) is 0.825, which is significant at the level of 1%, indicating that for every 1% increase in labor productivity, a firm’s TFP will rise by 0.825%
The coefficient of labor productivity on a firm’s TFP is 0.874, which is significant at the level of 1%, indicating that for every 1% increase in labor productivity, a firm’s TFP will rise by 0.874%.The analysis of the intermediary effect shows that in M1–M3, the total effect of haze pollution on a firm’s TFP is α1 = −0.303, the direct effect is δ1 = −0.097, and the indirect effect of haze pollution on a firm’s TFP through reducing employees’ labor productivity is −0.085; that is, the mediation effect is −0.0206
Summary
From 1978 to 2015, China’s economy grew at an average annual speed of 9.69% (the data are from the 2016 China Statistical Yearbook and are calculated at constant prices based on 1978), creating a “miracle of growth” that has attracted worldwide attention. To study the impact of haze pollution on firm-level TFP, this paper uses the data on China’s A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2013 to 2017 and the data released by the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre monitoring the air quality of 74 cities. The incremental contribution of this paper is as follows: First, haze pollution is included in the research horizon, and the influencing factors of firm-level TFP are expanded. Empirical data were used to confirm the negative impact of haze pollution on a firm-level TFP, enriching the literature on the economic consequences of haze pollution. This study reveals the intermediary role of labor productivity on the impact of haze pollution on a firm’s TFP and opens the “black box” of haze pollution to reveal how it affects a firm-level TFP.
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