Do Green Credit Affect Green Total Factor Productivity? Empirical Evidence from China

Abstract

Understanding the effects of green credit on green total factor productivity (GTFP) is conductive to promoting the sustainable economy development. This paper examines the total effects, influence mechanism, and heterogeneous impacts of green credit on GTFP based on GTFP data of 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2017. The findings show that, firstly, on the whole, green credit significantly increases GTFP, which is tested by the panel regression model. Secondly, according to the result of the panel quantile model, the increasing effect of green credit on GTFP is strengthened by the improvement of GTFP. Thirdly, green credit has heterogeneous impact on GTFP, which is reflected in economic development with different level, especially for different degrees of environmental regulation. Fourthly, under the full samples, green credit impacts GTFP through green technology innovation, but it has no effect on energy consumption structure. Besides, the influence mechanism is heterogeneous in the variation of sample characteristics. Finally, some significant policy recommendations are provided for policymakers based on these conclusions.