| 盛丹,卜文超.机器人使用与中国企业的污染排放[J].数量经济技术经济研究,2022,(9):157-176 | | 机器人使用与中国企业的污染排放 | | The Usage of Robots and Enterprises Pollution Emissions in China | | | | DOI： | | 中文关键词: 机器人 企业污染排放强度 工具变量 | | 英文关键词: Robot Enterprises Pollution Emission Intensity Instrumental Variable | | 基金项目:本文获得国家自然科学基金面上项目（71673150）、（71873071）和国家社会科学基金重点项目（18AZD001）的资助。 | | | 中文摘要: | | 本文利用2006~2013年中国企业污染数据和工业企业数据，采用“巴蒂克工具变量”的因果识别方法，考察了机器人使用对我国企业污染排放的影响。实证结果表明，机器人使用显著抑制了企业污染排放。进一步机制检验发现，机器人使用主要通过人工替代、增加清洁能源使用、增设末端处理设备和增强排污处理能力等渠道降低企业污染排放。本文的研究为客观评估机器人使用对中国环境污染排放的影响提供了微观证据，有助于中国制定机器人使用的配套政策，从而实现经济与环境的协调发展。 | | 英文摘要: | | With the rise of the digital economy and artificial intelligence, the application of robots in enterprise production is becoming more and more universal. According to the statistics of the International Federation of Robotics, the number of industrial robots running in factories around the world has reached 3 million in 2020, of which Chinas industrial robot shipments are 168,400 units. From 2006 to 2019, the ownership and installation of industrial robots in China showed a gradual upward trend. The installation and stock of industrial robots in China surpassed Japan and became the worlds largest country in 2013 and 2016, respectively. The extensive use of industrial robots not only has a profound impact on economic growth and social efficiency, but also has significant effects on social employment and wage relations. Then, while having a series of impacts on the social environment, how does the usage of robots affect the natural environment? In other words, what is the relationship between the usage of robots and the pollution emissions of Chinese enterprises? Does the increasing usage of robots improve the severe environmental situation or aggravate the deterioration of the environment? What is the mechanism of its impact? These problems urgently need to be solved and answered by scholars and policy makers. An in-depth study of the above issues is conducive to evaluating the impact of robot use on the economy and society in the digital economy era. More importantly, the research conclusion of this paper encourages China to formulate corresponding industrial support policies for the use of robots to achieve the coordinated development of the economy and environment.In summary, using the robot data from the International Robot Federation and enterprises pollution data and industrial enterprises data in China between 2006 and 2013, this paper examines the impact of the usage of robots on enterprises pollution emissions by employing a “Bartik IV” methodology to establish causality. Potential impact mechanisms are discussed further. To measure the exposure of firms to robots, we construct industrial robot penetration as the core explanatory variable. To address the endogeneity issue, a similar metric constructed by the industry-level density of robots in the United States is used to measure the penetration rate of industrial robots in China. The empirical results show the usage of robots reduces enterprises pollution emissions. This negative effect is attributed to an increase in artificial replacement, clean energy usage, terminal treatment equipment and the waste gas treatment capacity. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the usage of robots is more likely to reduce the emission intensity of enterprises in labor-intensive industries, technology-intensive industries, the private sector, as well as the eastern and central regions. Furthermore, the empirical results of this paper remain valid after a series of robustness tests (such as replacing instrumental variables, explanatory variables and robot usage indices, etc.).The innovations of this paper are as follows. First, it discusses the impact of the usage of industrial robots on pollution emissions. Existing scholars mainly analyze the impact of artificial intelligence and robot technology on environmental governance, and pay less attention to the impact on environmental pollution. This paper makes up for the blank in this aspect. Secondly, using the microdata at the enterprise level and IV method, the influence of robot application on the intensity of enterprise pollution emission is systematically tested on the basis of solving the endogenous problem of the model. The existing research lacks strict economic theoretical analysis or empirical support, and does not focus on the micro-level. In fact, enterprises are the micro main body of pollution emissions in China. Studies have shown that 80% of environmental pollution comes from the production and management activities of enterprises. Finally, this paper verifies the usage of industrial robots through front-end control and end treatment to reduce the intensity of enterprise pollution emissions, which is of great significance to improve environmental quality and win the battle of pollution prevention and control. | | 查看全文 相关附件： 下载数据代码附录.zip |
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