Does Social Trust weaken the information rent-seeking of environmental responsibility?

Social trust is crucial for effective information transparency. Using the demonstration city for building a social credit system in China as a quasi-natural experiment, our results indicate that an improved social credit environment reduces the intensity of environmental information disclosure by enterprises while enhancing their substantive green innovation. This effect may be attributed to the reduced ability of enterprises to engage in environmental information rent-seeking for additional bank loans. JEL Classification code: F239；F27；F49