Impact of Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction Policy Means Coordination on Economic Growth: Quantitative Evidence from China

Guoxing Zhang,Yingluo Wang,Lean Yu,Shouyang Wang,Zhenhua Zhang,Xiulin Gao

doi:10.3390/su9050686

Abstract

To understand the general relationship between Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction (ECER) policy means coordination (PMC) and economic growth, this paper quantitatively investigates the impact on economic growth of differing PMCs. ECER policies from 1978 to 2013 in China are quantified across two dimensions of policy power and policy means, and then, PMC degrees are designed as independent variables and incorporated into a modified Cobb−Douglas production model. While determining the cointegration relationships by using a unit root test, a cointegration test and a stability test, cointegration equation is conducted by using quantitative data to explore the economic growth effects of PMC in China. The government’s use of PMC in China is also analyzed and ranked. The empirical results show that there is a long-term cointegration relationship among the variables from 1978 to 2013. Additionally, the effects of the different PMCs on economic growth show significant discrepancies and each PMC usage ranking is also found to be significantly different, thereby implying that the use of different PMCs by the Chinese government needs to be further perfected.

Highlights

Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction (ECER) has become a global goal, and many countries and organizations have conducted technological, engineering, policy and economic research to promote ECER in developing countries [1]
Since the unit root test is used to examine the stationary properties of the variables, the augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) test and PP test are discussed in this part
Based on identifying the Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction (ECER) policies formulated by the central Chinese government from 1978 to 2013 and quantifying them from two dimensions of policy power and policy means, this paper develops policy means coordination(PMC) degrees as independent variables which are incorporated into a modified Cobb−Douglas production model, and conducts a cointegration equation to discuss the economic growth effects of PMC in China while determining the cointegration relationship using the unit root, cointegration and stability tests

Summary

Introduction

Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction (ECER) has become a global goal, and many countries and organizations have conducted technological, engineering, policy and economic research to promote ECER in developing countries [1]. Faced with the serious situation of ECER, dire energy supply shortages and increasing environmental pollution have made it challenging to maintain sustainable economic growth in China. If China wants to achieve sustainable economic development, ECER must be enforced [5]. Significant improvements are required to standardize systems and government policies for full ECER implementation. The government must enforce ECER implementation through the promulgation of effective policies. If a single policy is overemphasized, it may have detrimental effects on sustainable economic development. To achieve better results, different policy means need to be coordinated when implementing ECER [7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion