Government subsidies, dual-credit policy, and enterprise performance: Empirical evidence from Chinese listed new energy vehicle companies

The development of the new energy vehicle industry has become a key force driving the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutralization. To better guide future strategies, this study investigates the dual impact of subsidy and dual-integral policies on the performance of new energy vehicle enterprises. This study first theorizes the influential mechanism according to the institutional-based approach and technical innovation theory, and then collects data from listed companies in the new energy vehicle industry from 2016 to 2020. The hypotheses are examined using a two-way fixed-effects model. The findings show that: (1) subsidy policies are can still improve enterprise performance, but not through green technology innovation; (2) the dual-credit policy can improve enterprise performance through green technology innovation; and (3) under current policy conditions, with subsidies declining annually, the interaction effects between the subsidy and dual-integral policies will also decrease. Thus, this study suggests that non-monetary industrial policy, represented by the dualcredit policy is a more effective alternative to government subsidies.