Differences in Environmental Investment Decisions of Heterogeneous Enterprises under Environmental Regulation: Based on the Perspective of Total Factor Productivity

This paper discusses the differential impact of environmental regulations on the environmental investment of heterogeneous firms. We find that (1) the impact of environmental regulations on the environmental investment of firms depends on the productivity level of the firms, and the higher the productivity of the firms, the greater the promotion effect of environmental regulations on the environmental investment of the firms. (2) As environmental regulations further increase the burden of environmental costs on firms, they are not conducive to expanding the production scale of low-productivity firms. (3) The higher the intensity of environmental regulation, the higher the productivity threshold for environmental investment by enterprises, and government fiscal expenditure can regulate the relationship between environmental regulation and the productivity threshold for environmental investment by enterprises.