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Abstract
Approaches to promoting the transformation and upgrading of China’s industrial structure represent an important issue in high-quality economic development. The upgrading of industrial structures is beneficial not only for environmental protection but also for sustainable economic development. This article first tests the correlation between environmental regulation and the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure through an impulse response function and then uses provincial panel data to analyze the regionally heterogeneous impact of environmental regulation on industrial structure upgrading. The research results indicate that: (1) the presented impulse response graph indicates that environmental regulation shocks have a significant impact on the rationalization and upgrading of industrial structure, and subsequent variance decomposition indicates that environmental regulation has a strong explanatory power on the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure; (2) overall, strengthening the level of environmental regulation is not conducive to the rationalization of industrial structure (RIS), but a strong level of environmental regulation can significantly promote the upgrading of industrial structure (UIS); and (3) at the regional level, there is significant regional heterogeneity in the impact of environmental regulation on the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure in different regions. Environmental regulation can promote UIS in China’s eastern and western regions, but it is not conducive to RIS. Environmental regulation can promote RIS in China’s central region, but it has a negative impact on UIS. The conclusion of this article provides inspiration for sustainable economic development.
Highlights
After more than 40 years of sustained high-speed growth, the Chinese economy has entered a stage of high-quality growth
In order to avoid biased conclusions, this article further divides the national sample into three major regions, namely eastern, central, and western regions, in order to study the regional heterogeneity of the impact of environmental regulation on the rationalization and elevation of industrial structure in each region
Realizing sustainable economic development is an important goal pursued by policy authorities, and the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure constitute a necessary means to achieving sustainable development
Summary
After more than 40 years of sustained high-speed growth, the Chinese economy has entered a stage of high-quality growth In this new era, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure is an important measure in promoting high-quality economic growth. There are problems in China’s industrial structure, such as weak independent research and development capabilities and homogenization of regional industrial structures, leading to oversupply in middle and low-end sectors. In this situation, the analysis of approaches to balancing the transformation and upgrading of China’s industrial structure with environmental pollution and the promotion of high-quality economic development are of great practical significance
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