Doctor Ao Li, a researcher of the base, has published a collaborative paper titled "Does interest rate liberalization affect corporate green investment?" in Emerging Markets Review.

Energy Economics is an internationally authoritative journal in the fields of energy economics and energy finance, focusing on energy markets, climate policy, tax forecasting, monetary policy, and related themes.

Abstract:

This paper investigates the impact of interest rate liberalization on corporate green investment by taking the cancellation of the lower limit of the loan interest rate of financial institutions by the People's Bank of China in July 2013 as an exogenous quasi-natural experiment. We find that the interest rate liberalization will boost corporate green investment. Specifically, for every one standard deviation increase in interest rate liberalization, the enterprise green investment intensity increases by 9.6% of the sample standard deviation on average. Moreover, underlying mechanisms show that interest rate liberalization reform can improve corporate green investment by easing financing constraints, improving market competition, and reducing business risks. In addition, the impacts are more profound on enterprises facing higher environmental supervision intensity, lower attention of capital market, higher degree of regional marketization, and lower degree of financialization. Extended analysis show that interest rate liberalization will further promote the substantive innovation of green technology and improve environmental performance after enhancing the green investment of enterprises. This study contributes to playing the role of financial services in the green transformation of the economy.

Keywords：Interest rate liberalization; Green investment; Financing constraints; Market competition; Business risk

Link：https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2024.107377

Teacher profile

Ao Li is a Lecturer at the School of Finance, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. Li's research focuses on corporate finance, corporate governance, and enterprise innovation. Li earned a Bachelor's degree in Accounting (ACCA) from the School of Management at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, a Master's degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Sheffield, UK, and a PhD in Finance from the School of Management at Xiamen University. Li's research papers have been published in academic journals including The World Economy, Journal of Management Science, International Review of Financial Analysis, Energy Economics, International Review of Economics and Finance, and Environmental Impact Assessment Review. Li is a Chartered Certified Accountant and an ACCA Member.