Empowering green innovation: The impact of green subsidies on Chinese firms

As a form of targeted public expenditure, green subsidies play a crucial role during economic transformation. Their potential to foster green innovation, and ultimately support sustainable development, remains an important subject of empirical research. Drawing on panel data from Chinese A-share lis...

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Main Authors: Shuyi Liu, Ning Ba, Yu Hao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-12-01
Series:Sustainable Futures
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266618882500454X
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author Shuyi Liu
Ning Ba
Yu Hao
author_facet Shuyi Liu
Ning Ba
Yu Hao
author_sort Shuyi Liu
collection DOAJ
description As a form of targeted public expenditure, green subsidies play a crucial role during economic transformation. Their potential to foster green innovation, and ultimately support sustainable development, remains an important subject of empirical research. Drawing on panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning 2007 to 2022, this research utilizes a three-way fixed effects framework to evaluate how green subsidies promote environmental progress. The empirical evidence suggests that, while green subsidies significantly enhance investment in innovation, their direct impact on innovation outputs is relatively limited. This trend is consistent across various types of firms, highlighting the initial success of green subsidy policies in motivating innovation investment, but also underscoring the necessity of further exploration and refinement to achieve a more sustainable impact on innovation outcomes. Notably, R&D outputs in technology-intensive firms paradoxically declined after receiving green subsidies, revealing limitations in the current policy framework’s effectiveness. These findings emphasize the importance of tailoring subsidy policies to align with the heterogeneous demands of enterprises. Our research contributes to this discussion by emphasizing the need for a more nuanced policy approach that balances innovation incentives with long-term economic sustainability.
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spelling doaj-art-1f9a95f57ccf495f89e4455823a072642025-08-20T03:24:16ZengElsevierSustainable Futures2666-18882025-12-011010088910.1016/j.sftr.2025.100889Empowering green innovation: The impact of green subsidies on Chinese firmsShuyi Liu0Ning Ba1Yu Hao2School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110167, ChinaSchool of Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, ChinaSchool of Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; Faculty of Economics, Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, Shenzhen 518172, China; College of Economics and Management, Tarim University, Alar 843300, China; Corresponding author at: School of Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, 5 Zhongguancun South Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China.As a form of targeted public expenditure, green subsidies play a crucial role during economic transformation. Their potential to foster green innovation, and ultimately support sustainable development, remains an important subject of empirical research. Drawing on panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning 2007 to 2022, this research utilizes a three-way fixed effects framework to evaluate how green subsidies promote environmental progress. The empirical evidence suggests that, while green subsidies significantly enhance investment in innovation, their direct impact on innovation outputs is relatively limited. This trend is consistent across various types of firms, highlighting the initial success of green subsidy policies in motivating innovation investment, but also underscoring the necessity of further exploration and refinement to achieve a more sustainable impact on innovation outcomes. Notably, R&D outputs in technology-intensive firms paradoxically declined after receiving green subsidies, revealing limitations in the current policy framework’s effectiveness. These findings emphasize the importance of tailoring subsidy policies to align with the heterogeneous demands of enterprises. Our research contributes to this discussion by emphasizing the need for a more nuanced policy approach that balances innovation incentives with long-term economic sustainability.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266618882500454XGreen subsidiesGreen innovationPolicy incentivesInnovation drivers
spellingShingle Shuyi Liu
Ning Ba
Yu Hao
Empowering green innovation: The impact of green subsidies on Chinese firms
Sustainable Futures
Green subsidies
Green innovation
Policy incentives
Innovation drivers
title Empowering green innovation: The impact of green subsidies on Chinese firms
title_full Empowering green innovation: The impact of green subsidies on Chinese firms
title_fullStr Empowering green innovation: The impact of green subsidies on Chinese firms
title_full_unstemmed Empowering green innovation: The impact of green subsidies on Chinese firms
title_short Empowering green innovation: The impact of green subsidies on Chinese firms
title_sort empowering green innovation the impact of green subsidies on chinese firms
topic Green subsidies
Green innovation
Policy incentives
Innovation drivers
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266618882500454X
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