The impact of producer services agglomeration on green economic development: Evidence from 278 Chinese cities

Abstract

Driven by market and government forces, China's producer services industries have shown a trend of agglomeration. However, whether this trend can further promote the development of a green economy remains to be explored. Using the panel data of 278 Chinese cities from 2004 to 2017, this study empirically investigates the impact of China's producer services agglomeration on green economic development and examines the moderating effects of relevant industrial and environmental regulation policies. The results show that: (1) Producer services agglomeration promotes China's green economic development, which is obtained by promoting industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation. (2) The development zone upgrading policy and command-and-control carbon emissions reduction policy can strengthen the positive impact of producer services agglomeration on the green urban economy. (3) The carbon trading policy, as a market-based carbon reduction tool, does not affect the green economic effect of the producer services agglomeration during the sample period.