Total Factor Productivity of Maritime and Port Companies and Test of Porter Hypothesis

This study took two steps to test the Porter Hypothesis in the maritime and port sectors. First, the total factor productivity of maritime and port companies was estimated for the period 2001-2023. Second, using a panel fixed effects model, the impact of environmental policy stringency on the TFP growth of these companies was analyzed for the period 2001-2020. The environmental policy stringency index was obtained from the OECD, and firm-specific data were obtained from ValueSearch by NICE Information Service. The results are as follows. It was found that the TFP growth rate of maritime and port companies significantly slowed down after the global financial crisis. The test of the Porter Hypothesis showed that it was not supported in both the short and long term for maritime and port companies. Additionally, these companies were more responsive to the relative environmental policy stringency than to Korea's environmental policy stringency.