How Does the River Chief System Affect Enterprises' Green Total Factor Productivity? Empirical Evidence from China

As an institutional innovation in China's watershed governance, the River Chief System (RCS) promotes corporate green transformation through administrative accountability and collaborative governance. On the basis of microdata from Chinese listed companies, a difference-in-differences (DID) analysis reveals that RCS implementation significantly enhances enterprises' green total factor productivity (GTFP), with an average marginal effect of approximately 0.127. The policy effect follows a dynamic trend—it first increases but then decreases. Significant heterogeneity is observed: listed firms in central China experience the strongest improvement in GTFP; among industries, the primary sector benefits most; and state-controlled enterprises are more strongly affected than the national average. These findings offer empirical support for optimizing the RCS policy. Future efforts should adopt differentiated incentives and collaborative governance, considering policy phases, regional and industrial variations, and ownership types to better integrate environmental governance with high-quality economic development.