Government environmental concern and urban green development efficiency: Structural and technological perspectives

Abstract

Increased central government accountability regarding environmental issues is expected to prompt local governments to allocate more attention; however, will greater local government environmental concentration stimulate higher urban green productivity? We focus on answering this question and exploring the associated mechanisms. This study constructs a theoretical and analytical framework to examine the impact of government environmental concern (GEC) on urban green efficiency (UGE) and investigate the impact of GEC on UGE using a combination of fixed effects, threshold effects and spatial Durbin models. The findings reveal that GEC can significantly contribute to UGE and the conclusions remain robust following a series of tests. GEC can effectively promote UGE in eastern and low-pollution-emitting cities in contrast to mid-western and high-pollution-emitting cities. GEC also significantly contributes to industrial intelligence and green innovation, subsequently increasing UGE. Finally, we determine that GEC has a pollution halo effect in China. These findings provide empirical insights for local governments to effectively allocate resources to prioritised concerns.