Prague Economic Papers 2024, 33(4):504-542 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.871

Import Trade and the Green Transformation Development of Chinese Enterprises: Based on the Dual Perspectives of Import Technology Sophistication and Import Diversification

Ming Chen ORCID..., Hongbo Wang
Ming Chen: Shanxi University, School of Economics and Management, Taiyuan, China
Hongbo Wang: Nankai University, School of Economics, Tianjin, China

Expanding imports and promoting balanced trade have been the direction China has been adhering to in recent years, and are also important measures for China to build an open domestic and international dual cycle development pattern. This paper incorporates the emissions of “three industrial wastes” into the production function, uses the Slack Based Measure model and the globally referenced Malmquist-Leuenberger index to measure the green total factor productivity of Chinese enterprises from 2002 to 2013 in order to measure enterprises’ green transformation development. Subsequently, it tests the green development effect of import trade from the perspective of import technology sophistication and import diversification. Afterwards, we discover that the improvement of import sophistication and import diversification can significantly promote enterprises’ green transformation, largely through spillover effects and intermediate import competition effects. Furthermore, the green development promotion effect of import trade is greatly heterogeneous. The research in this article provides beneficial insights for China’s economic opening-up and high-quality economic development.

JEL classification: F18, P32, P33, Q56

Received: October 4, 2023; Revised: June 21, 2024; Accepted: July 1, 2024; Published: August 30, 2024  Show citation

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Chen, M., & Wang, H. (2024). Import Trade and the Green Transformation Development of Chinese Enterprises: Based on the Dual Perspectives of Import Technology Sophistication and Import Diversification. Prague Economic Papers, 33(4), 504-542. doi: 10.18267/j.pep.871
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