Intensity of environmental regulation and environmentally biased technology in the employment market

Abstract

Due to the lack of an appropriate method to measure biased technological progress, the theory of how environmental regulations affect employment demand through biased technological progress in Porter's hypothesis has not been effectively verified. To fill this gap, this study extends Acemoglu's (2012) biased technological progress theory, and reasonably measures environmentally biased technological progress using data envelopment analysis. The effect of environmental regulation on labor supply and demand is analyzed through environmentally biased technological progress. The results show that progress in environmentally biased technology can promote the supply and demand of regional labor force. However, if the development of energy saving and emission reduction technology is inconsistent with economic growth, then progress in environmentally biased technology has a negative impact on the demand for regional labor. Environmental regulation has a significant negative impact on labor demand, but its self-adjusting mechanism reignites labor demand.