Seminar (Dept. of Finance)

Theme：Finance and Pollution: Do Credit Conditions Affect Toxic Emissions?

Speaker：Wensi Xie, Assistant professor, the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Time：2021-06-11 10:00

Address：Zoom Meeting

Language：English

Venue：Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID：836 3906 7985

password：403073

ABSTRACT:

We evaluate the impact of credit conditions on firms’ emissions of toxic pollutants. There are differing influences: tighter credit might (a) stifle firm production, reducing toxic emissions, (b) induce firms to economize on noncore business functions, such as pollution abatement, increasing pollution; (c) have no effect on pollution if environment regulations bind. Using four identification strategies, we find that shocks that tighten a firm’s credit conditions increase its emissions of toxic pollutants, and those that ease a firm’s access to credit reduce its toxic emissions. The estimates suggest that finance exerts a large impact on firms’ emissions of toxic pollutants.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY:

Wensi Xie is an assistant professor of finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Business school. Her research interests include corporate finance, banking and financial institutions, and financial accounting. She received her PhD in Finance from Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong. During 2013-2014, she visited the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania as a Fulbright scholar. Her work is published or forthcoming in the Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Management Science, Economic Journal, and Journal of Law and Economics.