Title: Political Turnover and Firm Pollution Discharges: An Empirical Study

Speaker: Yanrui Wu, University of Western Australia

Time: November 12th, 2018 15:00–16:30

Venue: Conference Room 106B, Zhonghui Building (IESR, JNU College of Economics)

About the speaker:

Yanrui Wu is a Professor of Economics at the University of Western Australia, specializing in development economics, international trade and applied econometric modelling. His research interests include Chinese and Asian economies, productivity analysis, economic growth, resource and environmental economics. His work has appeared in many SSCI-listed journals such as Energy Economics, Energy, Applied Economics, Journal of Comparative Economics, Empirical Economics, China Economic Review, Economics Letters, Pacific Economic Review and Resources Policy.

Abstract:

This paper aims to examine the relationship between political turnover and pollution discharges by firms in China. The empirical results show that political turnover leads firms to significantly increase their pollution discharges, particularly when the newly appointed officials are promoted locally. Furthermore, higher frequency of political turnover is associated with more pollution discharges. Lastly, our extended analysis illustrates that during the first year of a new official in office polluting firms rely on charitable donation rather than personal relationship to establish new political connections and seek protection for pollution. With the increase of the official’s tenure as well as the expansion in firm social networks, personal relationship has more impact on the formation of political connections and hence the pollution behaviour of politically connected firms.