Environmental regulation and the supply efficiency of environmental public services: Evidence from environmental decentralization of 289 cities in China

Abstract

AbstractEnvironmental regulation is an important tool for local governments to intervene in environmental governance. Based on 2008–2017 panel data on 289 cities in China, this paper analyzes the impact of environmental regulation on the supply efficiency of environmental public services and explores whether environmental decentralization changes the effect of environmental regulation. The results show that environmental regulation can significantly improve the supply efficiency of environmental public services, and this finding still holds after a series of robustness tests. The main reason is the improvement in green technology innovation capabilities caused by environmental regulation. Environmental regulation has a more significant positive effect on the supply efficiency of environmental public services in regions with a higher local government governance capacity, lower levels of fiscal decentralization, and a higher pollutant emission intensity. A moderate level of environmental decentralization helps to better promote the supply efficiency of environmental public services through environmental regulation. When the level of environmental decentralization lies between 0.362 and 1.353, environmental regulation effectively improves the supply efficiency of environmental public services.