Abstract
Promoting the coordinated development of industrialization and the environment is a goal pursued by all of the countries of the world. Strengthening environmental regulation (ER) and improving green total factor productivity (GTFP) are important means to achieving this goal. However, the relationship between ER and GTFP has been debated in the academic circles, which reflects the complexity of this issue. This paper empirically tested the relationship between ER and GTFP in China by using panel data and a systematic Gaussian Mixed Model (GMM) of 177 cities at the prefecture level. The research shows that the relationship between ER and GTFP is complex, which is reflected in the differences and nonlinearity between cities with different monitoring levels and different economic development levels. (1) The relationship between ER and GTFP is linear and non-linear in different urban groups. A positive linear relationship was found in the urban group with high economic development level, while a U-shaped nonlinear relationship was found in other urban groups. (2) There are differences in the inflection point value and the variable mean of ER in different urban groups, which have different promoting effects on GTFP. In key monitoring cities and low economic development level cities, the mean value of ER had not passed the inflection point, and ER was negatively correlated with GTFP. The mean values of ER variables in the whole sample, the non-key monitoring and the middle economic development level cities had all passed the inflection point, which gradually promoted the improvement of GTFP. (3) Among the control variables of the different city groups, science and technology input and the financial development level mainly had positive effects on GTFP, while foreign direct investment (FDI) and fixed asset investment variables mainly had negative effects.
Highlights
Since the beginning of the 21st century, China has made great progress in environmental protection.with the progress of industrialization, the contradiction between economic growth and environmental protection has become more prominent
This part focuses on the correlation between environmental regulation (ER) and green total factor productivity (GTFP), the differences between them in different types of cities and whether therebetween is a non-linear between them, and tests
The environmental pollution problems faced by key monitoring cities are relatively serious, and the current cost of ER measures is high, which fails to play a positive role in promoting the GTFP
Summary
Since the beginning of the 21st century, China has made great progress in environmental protection. ‘high emissions’ are still relatively obvious in the process of industrialization Such a division of labor patterns and production characteristics results in intensified environmental pollution, such as the Songhua. This paper takes 177 cities at the prefecture level and above in China as its object, and empirically studies the correlation between ER and GTFP in China’s industrialization process by using urban panel data and a systematic Gaussian Mixed Model (GMM) model from 2007 to 2016. The main contribution of this article consists of the following aspects: firstly, the existing studies mostly focus on the relationship between ER and GTFP from a static perspective, ignoring the possible dynamic inertia in the process of industrialization. In the process of rapid industrialization, environmental pollution caused by economic development may be inevitable.
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