演講者簡介 : Professor Min Fang received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Rochester in 2021. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida. His research interests are Macroeconomics, Macro-Finance, Monetary Economics, and Urban Economics.
演講摘要 : This paper examines how firms' investments in pollution abatement are influenced by financial frictions and policy uncertainty. Our data analyses suggest that financially constrained firms are less likely to invest in pollution abatement and are more likely to release toxic pollutants. Such a pattern is intensified by policy uncertainty measured by close gubernatorial elections. We then develop a heterogeneous firm general equilibrium model in which financially constrained firms face increased shadow costs of finance from pollution abatement. This relation is further amplified by policy uncertainty with respect to environmental regulation, which further reduces firms' incentives with respect to pollution prevention. Our empirical evidence and model suggest that the effectiveness of environmental policies is subject to corporate financial frictions and policy uncertainty.
