Exporting and electricity consumption: new microeconomic evidence from manufacturing firms in China

ABSTRACT

We investigate the relationship between firm exporting and energy consumption using newly matched manufacturing data from China. We reconfirm that exporting is negatively correlated with electricity consumption. Moreover, we document novel evidence that foreign exporters consume more electricity than domestic exporters, which supports the pollution haven hypothesis.

KEYWORDS:

• Exporting
• Trade
• Electricity
• Pollution Haven Hypothesis

JEL CODES:

• F14
• F18
• Q41

Acknowledgments

Jian Yu acknowledges financial support from the Beijing Social Science Fund Project, No. 19LJB001.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ We have done more heterogeneous analyses with regard to aspects such as pollution density and coastal location. The results are available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Beijing Social Science Fund Project [19LJB001].