AUTHOR=Cai Xiaoshan , Liu Qian , Peng Qing 

TITLE=International environmental regulation, trade liberalization, and enterprise pollution reduction: Evidence from China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.965484

DOI=10.3389/fevo.2022.965484

ISSN=2296-701X

ABSTRACT=Regarding the signing of the China–ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper uses the difference-in-differences model to examine the pollution emissions of domestic trading enterprises in the face of varying trade openness under the international environmental regulations. It is found that trade liberalization will drive domestic trading firms to choose more proactive pollution abatement strategies, namely, the signing of CAFTA facilitates the pollution reduction in enterprises trading mainly with CAFTA members. This effect is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises and labor-intensive enterprises. In particular, the effect of becoming a member of CAFTA to facilitate firm-level pollution reduction has a time lag, and its marginal effect tends to expand over time.