Ecological Civilization Demonstration Zone, Air Pollution Reduction, and Political Promotion Tournament in China: Empirical Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment

Using the ecological civilization demonstration zone as a quasi-natural experiment, this study has explored the effect of it on air pollution in China by employing the difference-in-differences model and the spatial difference-in-differences model, and further tested the political promotion tournament in China by employing the binary logit model. The results show that the ecological civilization demonstration zone has basically and effectively reduced air pollution, except for carbon monoxide and ozone. In addition, the spatial spillover effects of the ecological civilization demonstration zone on air pollution are not only basically supported among the treated cities, but also extremely established in the untreated cities neighboring the treated cities. Furthermore, no clear evidence supports the establishment of the political promotion tournament in China, while local cadres tend to cope with the assessment of higher officials passively rather than actively. Overall, this study sheds light on the coordination of economic development and ecological civilization from the perspective of the career concerns of local cadres.

Does firm life cycle have impacts on managerial promotion tournament incentives?

We examine whether and how firm-level promotion tournament incentives for executives, measured by the pay gap between a chief executive officer (CEO) and non-CEO executives, vary in different corporate life-cycle stages. Results show that managerial tournament incentives are higher in growth and mature life-cycle stages than in introduction and decline stages. In additional analyses, we find that firms design compensation contracts for growth and mature life-cycle stages with a target to increase tournament incentives for non-CEO executives that induce managerial risk-taking behaviour, leading to high productivity and performance. JEL Classification: G30, M12