Historic preservation and firms’ green innovation: evidence from China

摘要

Historic preservation policies have gained increasing attention for their role in shaping urban development, yet their broader impacts remain understudied. Using China’s Historic City designation policy as a quasi-natural experiment, we employ a difference-in-differences approach to examine the causal relationship between historic preservation and firms’ green innovation. We find that the Historic City title promotes firms’ green innovation, with the impact being especially strong in cities with rich historic preservation sites. This effect acts by enhancing firms’ nationalism and strengthening environmental regulations. Our findings provide valuable policy implications, suggesting that historic preservation policies can be an effective tool for fostering sustainable urban development.