Abstract
Based on the data of the 283 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2018, this paper examines the impact of Internet development on environmental quality. The results show that China’s urban PM2.5 has a significant spatial spillover effect. In general, the Internet has a significant negative direct effect on urban environmental pollution, which means that the development of the Internet can improve urban environmental quality. This result remains robust under different methods. As the Internet has evolved over the years, its influence on environmental quality has increased and became more and more significant. In terms of regions, the spatial spillover effect of PM2.5 shows a pattern of eastern region < central region < western region < northeast region, where the eastern region is the only region with a statistically significant negative value for the coefficient, which indicates the direct effects of Internet development on the environmental quality. In addition, the statistic testing on mediating effect shows that the Internet’s effect on urban environment quality is mainly transmitted through the upgrading of industrial structure. With the industrial structure being used as the threshold variable, the influence of Internet development on environmental quality could be divided into two stages.
Highlights
IntroductionSince the reform and opening-up, China’s economy has shown remarkable growth
Accepted: 5 October 2021Since the reform and opening-up, China’s economy has shown remarkable growth.With abundant resources and cheap labor, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) has grown at a higher rate than the world average over the same period and continues to maintain a strong momentum
After implementing the ordinary least square (OLS) method, this study found that the largest variance inflation factor (VIF)
Summary
Since the reform and opening-up, China’s economy has shown remarkable growth. With abundant resources and cheap labor, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) has grown at a higher rate than the world average over the same period and continues to maintain a strong momentum. In 2020, China’s GDP hit a record high of 100 trillion yuan, making it the world’s only major economy to achieve positive economic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing nearly 30% to the global economy and entering the ranks of higher-middle-income economies. China is expected to become the world’s largest economy, exerting greater influence on the global economy. As China’s economic development has entered a new normal, it is inevitable for the country to deal with the increasing pressure of natural resources and environmental protection if it wishes to maintain its incremental achievement
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