Environmental Regulation, Digital Financial Inclusion, and Environmental Pollution: An Empirical Study Based on the Spatial Spillover Effect and Panel Threshold Effect

Abstract

Environmental regulation is a crucial tool for controlling environmental pollution. Digital finance is essential for the development of green finance. The relationship between environmental regulation and digital finance concerning environmental pollution is an issue worth exploring. This paper uses the spatial econometric model and the panel threshold model to empirically analyze the impact of environmental regulation and digital financial inclusion on environmental pollution using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2019. It mainly discusses the independent impact and synergy of environmental regulation and digital inclusive finance on environmental pollution. The research results show that the improvement of the intensity of environmental regulation and the development level of digital-inclusive finance can effectively alleviate the problem of environmental pollution. Moreover, environmental regulation and digital inclusive finance can coordinately control environmental pollution. A panel threshold analysis shows that as the intensity of environmental regulation increases, digital financial inclusion will reflect the function of environmental governance. Similarly, with the development of digital financial inclusion, environmental regulation has shown a significant inhibitory effect on environmental pollution. The results of a heterogeneity analysis show that the intensity of environmental regulation in the eastern region has a significant inhibitory effect on environmental pollution. Digital financial inclusion in the central region shows a strong environmental governance function. The intersection of environmental regulation and digital financial inclusion has shown a significant synergistic governance effect in the eastern region. Therefore, the government gives full play to the functions of environmental regulation and digital inclusive finance environmental governance to achieve coordinated governance of environmental pollution.