Can anti-corruption improve the quality of environmental information disclosure?

Abstract

This study takes the anti-corruption campaign of the 18th CPC National Congress in China as an exogenous impact build a double difference (DID) model, proving that anti-corruption can increase the quality of enterprise environmental information disclosure significantly. After a series of tests such as parallel trend test and placebo test, the results are still robust. The intermediary effect model results indicate that the anti-corruption increases the violation cost of enterprises and encourages enterprises to carry out innovation activities, and ultimately increase the quality of enterprise environmental information disclosure. Heterogeneity analysis finds that non-state-owned enterprises, large enterprises, and regions with more substantial environmental supervision will improve the quality of enterprise environmental information disclosure to a greater extent. The findings of this paper can help provide policy inspiration for improving the mandatory environmental information disclosure system and strengthening the enforcement of environmental regulations.