Assessing the effects of different types of environmental supervision policies on green economy efficiency of China

Abstract

Well-designed environmental regulatory tools are essential for environmental, economic, and social sustainability. This paper explores the effects of different types of environmental supervision policies on green economic efficiency in China from 2003 to 2021. In the first stage, the environmental supervision policies are divided into four types based on the governmental behavioral patterns and the composite index of environmental supervision policies is constructed based on multiple criteria, and the super-efficiency DEA-SBM model is used to measure green economic efficiency. In the second stage, the Tobit model is used to explore the effects of four different types of environmental supervision policies on green economic efficiency. The results show that: (1) Command policies inhibit green economic efficiency in the short term, while the long-term effect increases green economic efficiency. (2) Collaboration policies increase green economy efficiency from the second to the fifth year of implementation, but the subsequent long-term effects show a dampening effect. (3) Planning policies inhibit green economy efficiency in the short term, while they increase green economy efficiency after two years of implementation. (4) Guidance policies inhibit green economic efficiency in the short term but can enhance green economic efficiency after three years of implementation. The result provides theoretical guidance for the rational formulation and implementation of environmental supervision policies by environmental administrations in the future.