PONE-D-22-16731Does China’s green finance policy stimulate firms’ total factor productivity? An empirical evidence based on China’s pilot zones for green finance reform and innovationsPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Dong,

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- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040162522001901?via%3Dihub

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040162522000488?via%3Dihub

- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11187-014-9584-2

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988322001645?via%3Dihub

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095965262200782X?via%3Dihub

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X22000471?via%3Dihub

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Dear Authors,

The paper titled “Does China’s green finance policy stimulate firms’ total factor productivity? An empirical evidence based on China’s pilot zones for green finance reform and innovations” targets to analyze the differential and heterogeneity effect of TFP on firm level in China. I have read the complete paper and I hold following observation on it.

The title is bit long, it duplicates similar terms in both parts. Abstract is good and covers important feature of the manuscript. Introduction is well written. However, the debate of how this study is different from existing studies is quite long, which can be written precisely and have a better understanding for the reader. As in third paragraph where authors already stressed why this study is important. In subsequent paragraphs, the authors started again a debate on why green finance got widespread attention globally. However, the authors must pave the ground of stating the importance of study and how it is novel in context of existing ones. The topic seemed good, but there is lack of coherence in stressing the need of this study. Authors may consider restructuring introduction part and highlight the novelty of this study in coherent way. Moreover, the writeup requires a careful proofread as I found several misspelled words e.g., para 4 (word sustian), para 5 (ablite, intention). Some of the statements are not clear e.g., para 5 (…. but ignored the role of green finance) role of green finance in what? Appropriate citation should be provided in introduction part where authors mentioned about “executive conference of the State Council” and “Porter’s hypothesis”.

The literature review is written well. However, except explaining concepts of green finance, institutional background, and environmental constraints, authors should provide literature from existing studies concerning green finance and TFP. There are several studies that commented on the impact of green finance and TFP of firms, which can be included in the manuscript to formulate hypotheses. Furthermore, hypotheses 2 and 3 are not clear. What does “more obvious” mean? Authors need to address this issue and reformulate these hypotheses based on theory and existing empirical studies. There is serious problem of coherence in the write up, for instance, para 3 of hypothesis formulation. Authors are contradicting the previous statement in every next sentence. I would recommend a proofread of the manuscript.

Methodology part is well developed. However, methodology must provide details of all 5 pilot zones that implemented GFRI. Also, what other zones were considered in the study as control group? In DID, the prime focus is to be given in selection of control and treatment group. The selection of untreated group is of profound importance, and there are higher chances of selecting inappropriate control group that does not show the similar trajectory outcome variables (Abadie and Gardeazabal, 2003). The selection criteria should also be mentioned. Furthermore, as mentioned by authors, the time of intervention is 2017 in pilot zones in China, but the question is when did the firms start implementing the GFRI intervention? Another point, I would suggest providing results of the models where you included and excluded the control variables. The difference is not visible.

The discussion and conclusion parts are good. However, I have observed that author made longer and over complicated sentences which affect the understandability and cohesiveness of the manuscript. It can be improved.

Reviewer #2: The study presents an interesting and important topic. The literature of the manuscript is outstanding, and the number of references is at the level expected of a scientific journal. The structure of the paper is appropriate, and the methodology and presentation of results are of the expected standard. What I would suggest to the authors, for the sake of better transparency, is that in the conclusions section, a summary table should be provided to summarise the evidence for the hypotheses. Also, please indicate the source and the method used under the tables and figures. I request that the authors edit the paper as required by the journal.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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The policy effect of green finance reform and innovations: Empirical evidence at the firm level

PONE-D-22-16731R1

Dear Dr. Dong,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

László Vasa, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #3: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #3: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #3: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #3: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #3: The paper was revised along my instructions and now it is more sound and represents a higher scientific quality. I recommend it for publication without any further changes and improvements.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #3: No

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