Topic: The Green Revolving Door: Talent Flows Under Environmental Regulation
Speaker: Rui SHEN
Date & Time: 14:00-15:00 March 13, 2026
Online Venue: Tecent Meeting #134-978-265
Organizers: School of Accounting, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics; Liaoning Province Capital Market Finance and Accounting Graduate Innovation and Academic Exchange Center
Abstract: We examine how firms reorganize regulatory human capital in response to information-intensive environmental disclosure requirements. Exploiting the implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), we document a sharp increase in EPA-experienced hiring among treated firms, incremental to firms’ demand for and hiring of general green labor. This effect is stronger among firms with greater regulatory exposure, weaker internal environmental capabilities, and sufficient financial resources, and is attenuated for later adopters as regulatory expertise diffuses over time. In terms of hiring composition, although firms hire both technical and government-relations personnel from the EPA, hiring is concentrated at the junior level, suggesting that firms seek to acquire hands-on knowledge rather than political capital. Importantly, EPA hiring is associated with fewer environmental violations among high-risk firms, but we find no evidence of reduced regulatory scrutiny or lower penalties conditional on violations. In addition, we document reductions in carbon emissions among high emitters, alongside improvements in carbon accounting quality. Overall, the hiring patterns and improved environmental performance support a knowledge-transfer interpretation of the green revolving door.
Introduction of Speaker:
Rui SHEN, Professor, Associate Dean (Research), and Ph.D. Program Director at the School of Management and Economics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Before joining CUHK-Shenzhen, he held faculty positions as an Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. His research focuses on corporate finance, accounting information disclosure, and the application of novel methodologies-including machine learning and large language models-in business administration research. He has authored or co-authored more than ten papers in top-tier journals such as the Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Economic Theory, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis,and Economic Research Journal.
Special Attention:
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