Regional Spillover Effects Research Articles

Evaluating the influence of environmental regulations on green economic growth in China: A focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency guidelines

China's status as the world's largest energy consumer highlights its pivotal role in global energy consumption and the urgency of enhancing its energy efficiency and renewable energy development. This study evaluates the influence of environmental regulations on green economic growth in China, with a focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency, from 2000 to 2023 across 30 provinces. Using the Metafrontier-Global-SBM super-efficient DEA model, the research measures green economic development through the lens of energy efficiency. An enhanced fuzzy comprehensive assessment gauges the stringency of environmental regulations. To explore non-linear impacts, regional spillover, and feedback effects, a spatial econometric model was applied. The results reveal a U-shaped non-linear relationship between environmental regulations and green economic growth, with significant spatial feedback and regional spillover effects. Environmental regulations are also shown to have a substantial positive influence on the development of renewable energy, a critical driver of green economic growth. Policy implications suggest that strengthening environmental regulations could accelerate renewable energy adoption and foster sustainable economic growth across regions in China.

Regional spillover effect of 2022 sanctions against Russia on scholarly publications

AbstractThis article explores the spillover effects of economic sanctions against Russia on research in neighbouring countries. The assumption of the paper is that such effects should take place given the high level of regional integration in the post‐Soviet area. The study uses bibliometric data retrieved from the Web of Science for analysis; more specifically, the data on publications during 2019, 2021 and 2023 from each of the four countries of interest – Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and graphs. The results clearly point to the potential presence of negative externalities of economic sanctions on research systems of neighbouring countries not directly involved in the war. The paper discusses implications of the effects and recommendations, which can be used by policy makers to alleviate the effects on the neighbouring countries and by scholars to further investigate the phenomenon.

The spillover effect of mandatory renewable portfolio standards

Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) are one of the most prevalent and impactful clean energy policies implemented by states in the United States. This paper investigates the regional spillover effect of RPS policies using a directed dyad panel dataset of renewable electricity generation in US states from 1991 to 2021. Regional spillover effect is measured in two ways: by considering the influence of an RPS enacted in neighboring states and in states in the same regional transmission organization or independent system operator region. We use dyadic fixed effects estimation and conclude that the neighboring state’s RPS stringency score is a strong determinant of a state’s total renewable electricity generation. For states without an RPS, the positive influence of an RPS in a neighboring state is larger when the non-RPS state has more abundant renewable energy resources than the neighboring RPS state. Our findings suggest that past RPS policy evaluation research using a confined within-state focus may have underestimated the holistic impact of an RPS, as the impacts of an RPS policy can extend beyond the enacting state’s borders. Overall, this study contributes to an improved understanding of the holistic impact of state RPS policies.

Spatialtemporal evolution characteristics of ozone in China and its response to urbanization.

Based on the background of urbanization in China, we used the dynamic spatial panel Durbin model to study the driving mechanism of ozone pollution empirically. We also analyzed the spatial distribution of ozone driving factors using the GTWR. The results show that: i) The average annual increase of ozone concentration in ambient air in China from 2015 to 2019 was 1.68μg/m3, and 8.39μg/m3 elevated the year 2019 compared with 2015. ii) The Moran's I value of ozone in ambient air was 0.027 in 2015 and 0.209 in 2019, showing the spatial distribution characteristics of "east heavy and west light" and "south low and north high". iii) Per capita GDP industrial structure, population density, land expansion, and urbanization rate have significant spillover effects on ozone concentration, and the regional spillover effect is greater than the local effect. R&D intensity and education level have a significant negative impact on ozone concentration. iv) There is a decreasing trend in the inhibitory effect of educational attainment and R&D intensity on ozone concentration, and an increasing trend in the promotional effect of population urbanization rate, land expansion, and economic development on ozone concentration. Empirical results suggest a twofold policy meaning: i) to explore the causes behind the distribution of ozone from the new perspective of urbanization, and to further the atmospheric environmental protection system and ii) to eliminate the adverse impacts of ozone pollution on nature and harmonious social development.

Does the short-selling mechanism improve energy security? Evidence from China.

Reducing carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency are essential to respond to global climate change actively. However, improving energy security under resource and environmental constraints is the key for China to achieve high-quality and sustainable development. Thus, using the panel data at the enterprises and regional levels in China from 2013 to 2020, this research develops an energy security index to study the impact of the short-selling mechanism on energy security. The results show that China's energy security is generally on the rise under the short-selling mechanism. However, it has different degrees of impact on energy security in different energy structures, supply chains, and environments. In addition, China's energy security has a regional spillover effect under the short-selling mechanism's capital pressure and supervision governance. This paper also finds that short-selling can alleviate the supply chain's bullwhip effect and risk effect. Finally, the short-selling mechanism complements the micro-influence mechanism of energy security, and short-selling positively impacts China's energy security.

Sustainable development spillover effects among selected Asian countries: Analysis of integrated sustainability perspective

This study aims to investigate how different pillars of sustainable development in Iran interrelate with those in Russia and Saudi Arabia from the perspective of integrated sustainability. For this investigation, it assesses the spillover effects of sustainable development in these countries by estimating their sustainability elasticities. It maps the regional spillover effects between the sustainability of Iran versus those of Russia and Saudi Arabia using SEY model by estimating the elasticities of sustainability with a combination of Simultaneous Equations System, Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model, and Granger causality technique. The results confirm the integrated sustainability perspective in terms of the interconnection of sustainable development spillover effects from Russia and Saudi Arabia to Iran. Most of the estimated coefficients are statistically significant, showing high elasticities of sustainability and considerable spillover effects which confirms the perspective of integrated sustainability with spillover effects as the 4th pillar of sustainability. However, the results reject both weak and strong sustainability perspectives. According to the findings of this study, policy-makers should follow flow-based governance instead of local-based governance. In this approach, strategists should improve the international relationship with other countries, especially Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, decision-makers should establish a peaceful and strong connection with other countries via signing international agreements, treaties, and understandings.

Preventive regulation and corporate financialization: Evidence from China Securities Regulatory Commission's random inspections

This study takes CSRC's (China Securities Regulatory Commission) random inspection as a quasi-natural experiment, employs a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2007 to 2021, and tests the impact of a preventive regulation on firms' financialization using a difference-in-differences model (DID). We found that CSRC's random inspection significantly reduces the financialization of entity enterprises, especially over financialization. The mechanism test shows that random inspection can reduce the firms' financialization through two paths: the resource effect, which alleviate financing constraints, and the governance effect, which restrain agency costs and earnings management. Further analysis shows that the mitigating role of the CSRC's random inspection is especially prominent for enterprises faced with more efficient securities regulation, more serious media pressure or executives lack of financial background. Moreover, the CSRC's random inspection have a regional spillover effect. In the economic consequences test, we found that firms' financialization reduces long-term value-creating activities such as R&D investment, innovation output and main business performance, while CSRC's random inspection mitigate such adverse effects. These findings enrich not only the research related to financialization in emerging economies, but also provide meaningful implications for the current securities regulatory system reform in China and other countries in which have implemented or are going to implement the preventive regulatory.

Randomized inspection and firm's government subsidies: A natural experiment in China

This paper investigates the causal effects of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC)’s inspection on firm's government subsidies using a randomized inspection policy in the context of China. Our difference-in-differences estimation shows that inspections of regulators significantly reduce firm's subsidies by around [10.24%, 26.03%]. Plausible mechanisms are the reduction of government-firm connection, information asymmetry, and rent-seeking. Our findings are more pronounced among firms with poor corporate governance, fewer policy burdens, and higher financial risks. We also find a significant industrial and regional spillover effect and a promotion in firm performance. Overall, this paper evaluates the effects of external regulation on government subsidies and emphasizes the importance of supervision in correcting the helping hand of local governments, thus providing timely implications for policymakers.

Can digital inclusive finance promote agricultural green development?

Digital inclusive finance (DIF) provides new momentum for green agricultural development (AGD). This paper measured AGD with entropy weight TOPSIS in five dimensions, including resource conservation, environmental friendliness, ecological conservation, green supply, and economic growth. After that, it estimated the regional spillover effects and threshold impacts of DIF on AGD utilizing China's provincial panel data from 2011 to 2020. The paper shows that (1) DIF and AGD have such a U-shaped complex interrelationship; (2) the AGD is spatially impacted by DIF. The unique manifestation is that as DIF has increased, its effect on AGD has steadily changed from being direct to being indirect, and this effect has regional heterogeneity; and (3) in regions with higher levels of green technology innovation, better development of traditional finance, or relatively concentrated agricultural industries, DIF plays a more prominent role in promoting the AGD.

Yangtze River Delta in China space-time effect research on influencing factors for ecological civilization construction

In the strategic context of “vigorously promoting the construction of ecological civilization and following the Chinese modernization road,” it is of theoretical and practical significance to investigate the influencing factors and spatial and temporal effects of the level of ecological civilization construction (ECC) in view of the lack of scientific understanding of the spatial and temporal evolution of ECC. The ECC level of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) territory was assessed from 2010 to 2020 based on four different factors: economy, culture, society, and environment. The SpatialDubin model, in conjunction with the Hurst index, was used to examine the spatial impact of the ECC level. The results indicate that the YRD’s ECC level exhibits high spatial agglomeration features with rising agglomeration intensity and significant spatial autocorrelation. The degree of ECC in the YRD region has a substantial regional spillover effect. Cities nearby are expected to grow by 0.507% for every 1% increase in the local ECC level. The YRD region showed a high Hurst index of the ECC level; the sustainability sequence accounted for 80.49% of this index, and the Hurst index of the cities in the core portion of the region was generally higher than that of the marginal cities. The two facets of time and space, as well as the spatial spillover and lag impact of ecological civilization formation, should be considered in the future. To support the high-level ECC growth in the entire YRD region, it is vital to increase communication and collaboration between cities in the YRD territory.

The impact of carbon market on city greening: Quasi-experimental evidence from China

This paper investigates the regional spillover effects of the project-based voluntary market under the carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS). By exploiting one local offset mechanism (China's PHCER) as a quasi-experiment, we detect the unintended causal effect of the carbon market on greening the city. Using the difference-in-differences (DiD) estimator, we find that the voluntary carbon market resulted in a 14.45% (14.34%) increase in city-year-level NDVI summary value (per capita). The primary mechanism is the expansion of forest carbon sequestration projects. Cities with lower carbon emissions and fewer carbon market participants experience a greater causal effect. More importantly, we find no evidence to support the crowding out of arable land by forest carbon sequestration projects. Finally, several policy implications for a more functional carbon market are discussed.

Can Internet penetration curb the spread of infectious diseases among regions?-Analysis based on spatial spillover perspective.

Based on the outbreak of COVID-19, this paper empirically studied the impact of internet penetration on the incidence of class A and B infectious diseases among regions in spatial Dubin model, by using health panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2009 to 2018. The findings showed that: (1) The regional spillover effect of incidence of class A and B infectious diseases was significantly positive, and that is most obvious in the central regions. (2) Internet penetration not only has a positive effect on curbing the spread of infectious diseases within the local region but also help to inhibits the proximity spread of infectious diseases in neighborhood, showing the synergistic effect of "neighbor as a partner" in joint prevention and control mechanism. (3) The "digital gap" between regions, urban and rural areas, and user structures had led to significant group differences in the effect of the Internet on suppressing the spread of Class A and B infectious diseases. The findings of this paper provide a reference for understanding the potential role of the Internet in the COVID-19 and also provide policy support for the construction of Internet-based inter-regional "joint prevention and control mechanism" in public health events.

Farmers’ social networks and regional spillover effects in agricultural climate change mitigation

Climate change poses a severe threat to global agricultural production and rural livelihoods, and since agriculture itself is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it can also play an important role in climate change mitigation. This article investigates how farmers’ social networks influence the adoption of on-farm mitigation strategies. More precisely, we use a network autocorrelation model to explore the relationship between a farmer’s own mitigation behavior and the mitigation behavior and knowledge of his fellow farmers. The analysis is based on a regional case study in Switzerland and uses data obtained from personal network interviews combined with survey and census data of 50 farmers. Half of them are members of a local collective action initiative for agricultural climate change mitigation, while the others do not participate in the initiative. We find that, on average, farmers with a larger network adopt more mitigation measures, and furthermore, mitigation adoption is linked with the level of knowledge within farmers’ networks. Indeed, the likelihood that non-members will adopt mitigation measures increases if they are closely associated with members of the collective action, suggesting a local spillover effect. It follows that strengthening knowledge exchange among farmers and supporting local farmers’ initiatives can potentially contribute to the diffusion of agricultural climate change mitigation practices.

Replication files for: "Farmers' social networks and regional spillover effects on the adoption of agricultural climate change mitigation measures" by Cordelia Kreft, Mario Angst, Robert Huber and Robert Finger (Climatic Change, 176, 8 (2023)))

Replication files for: "Farmers' social networks and regional spillover effects on the adoption of agricultural climate change mitigation measures" by Cordelia Kreft, Mario Angst, Robert Huber and Robert Finger (Climatic Change, 176, 8 (2023)))

Economic Assessment of Food Legumes Breeding in China: Evidence Using a Provincial Level Dataset

Advances in crop breeding techniques and economic evaluation are critical to ensuring and improving crop yields and sustainable development. Based on the provincial data on food legumes breeding (FLB) in China from 2001 to 2020, the research and development (R&D) expenditure distribution, FLB contribution rate, and R&D expenditure on FLB were estimated. The economic benefits of output per unit area and R&D expenses were evaluated, and relevant policy suggestions were put forward. The study found that: (i) the R&D expenditure on FLB’s showed a significant upward trend, and the development can be divided into a starting, stable, and rapid growth period. There were significant differences in R&D expenditures across eight provinces of China with relatively high R&D expenditures for FLB; (ii) the R&D expenditure on FLB had a significant lag in the improvement of per mu yield (1 mu = 0.067 hectares). For every 10,000 yuan increase in R&D funding for FLB, the yield per mu will increase by 0.145 kg/mu in the next five years, and the regional spillover effect of breeding costs is significant; and (iii) the marginal revenue of R&D expenditures FLB from 2008 to 2020 is 34.91 yuan, that is, every 1 yuan invested in breeding R&D can bring a short-term marginal revenue of 34.91 yuan and a long-term marginal revenue of 337.23 yuan. Based on the above analysis, some recommendations were proposed and discussed, including further increasing the R&D investment of FLB, strengthening industry–university–research cooperation in breeding, improving the breeding research system, and promoting the multi-dimensional development of FLB industry–university–research services.

Clinical decision support system and hospital readmission reduction: Evidence from U.S. panel data

Using a large-scale panel of U.S. hospitals across health referral regions (HRRs), we empirically examine how a hospital's and its neighboring hospitals' adoption of the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) (and their meaningful use of CDSS) affects the hospital's quality of care. We find that CDSS adoption significantly reduces a hospital's readmission rate of heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia patients. We also reveal the regional spillover effects of adoption, where neighboring hospitals' CDSS adoption in the same HRR also reduces a hospital's readmission rates. Such spillover effects become more significant with electronic data interchange, facilitating seamless and errorless communications among hospitals. We also show that the spillover effects may depend on HRRs' different market structures and hospitals' meaningful-use status. Our findings offer theoretical and managerial insights for both healthcare researchers and practitioners.

Spatial-Temporal Pattern and Driving Factors of Carbon Efficiency in China: Evidence from Panel Data of Urban Governance

The improvement in city-level carbon efficiency (CE) is crucial for China to achieve its CO2 emission targets. Based on the panel data from 2003 to 2017, total factor CE values of 283 prefecture-level cities were measured using the super-efficiency SBM model. Through the exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), we found that the average city-level CE from 2003 to 2017 showed a “W”-type growth trend. Additionally, there are significant spatial heterogeneity and spatial dependency characteristics of city-level CE. The results of local spatial correlation analysis showed that the Low–Low clusters are distributed in all cities of Shanxi and Northern Shaanxi, and gradually expand to Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, and Hebei over time, and the High–High clusters are mainly located in the southeast coastal cities and central and eastern Sichuan. High–Low clusters are generally scattered in cities with relatively superior political–economic status in Northeast China, North China, and Northwest China, and gradually concentrated in North China during 2003–2017. Additionally, the dynamic spatial econometric model was employed to investigate the influencing factors of CE, and we found that the city-level CE has the characteristic of path dependence on time. Factors such as industrial structure upgrading and environmental regulation have significant improvement effects on city-level CE, while technological progress, financial development, energy intensity, and government intervention can significantly inhibit city-level CE. Compared with short-term effects, the long-term effects are insignificant with higher absolute values, indicating the long-term persistence and gradual strengthening characteristics of driving factors on city-level CE; however, the acting long-term mechanism has not been formed. Additionally, the regional spillover effect of driving factors on CE is more significant in the short term. Based on the empirical results, some policy implications for cities to improve CE are proposed.

The effects of corruption on China’s provincial eco-efficiency

This paper extends the literature on economic consequences of corruption. We simultaneously consider corruption’s impacts on output, production efficiency, and environmental performance in an eco-efficiency framework. Pollution is considered as undesirable output in the production process. We construct an eco-efficiency measure from a non-oriented data envelopment analysis model that incorporates a non-convex metafrontier, super-efficiency, and undesirable outputs into a directional distance function. By using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 1998 to 2016 in a spatial analysis, we find that corruption, measured by filed-cases of corruption-related crimes, has a significantly negative direct impact on eco-efficiency. The regional spillover effect is not significant for provinces in the same geographical region, but is marginally significant for provinces sharing a common border.

Embodied Carbon Emissions and Regional Transfer Characteristics—Evidence from China

China has a considerable impact on climate change, as it is the world’s largest developing country. Its carbon emissions are also a global concern. This research employed a multi-region input–output model to estimate the local emission effect and the regional spillover effect caused by the demand for intermediate and final products, to analyze the interregional flow of carbon emissions, and to identify the main industries causing domestic carbon emissions in China from 2007 to 2012. A structural path analysis model was used to evaluate the contribution of different factors and demand types to changes in carbon emissions. The following findings were obtained in this study: (1) The regional spillover effect of carbon emissions driven by domestic demand is characterized by inland provinces’ demand leading to emissions in coastal provinces. (2) Electricity, nonmetallic minerals, and metals are the key industries for carbon emissions. (3) The results of the SDA indicate that the scale effect is the main driving force for the growth in carbon emissions caused by domestic demand in China. Fixed capital formation is the most critical demand factor influencing carbon emissions. This study provides new insights into the characteristics of regional emission transfer in China. The conclusion of this paper is helpful to China in achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

The Spatial Spillover Effect of Environmental Regulation and Technological Innovation on Industrial Carbon Productivity in China: A Two-Dimensional Structural Heterogeneity Analysis

Environmental regulation and technological innovation are two crucial factors for improving industrial carbon productivity. However, prior research ignored the spatial spillover effects of these factors, and heterogeneity caused by industrialization level and resource dependence did not acquire attention either. Thus, we use the STIRPAT model and spatial panel Durbin model to study the spatial spillover effects of two independent variables. Then, a two-dimensional structural heterogeneity analysis is conducted according to the industrialization level and resource dependence. The results are as follows: improving environmental regulation and technological innovation is good for industrial carbon productivity. Simultaneously, there are obvious regional differences under two-dimensional structural heterogeneity. From the perspective of space, industrial carbon productivity has high spatial autocorrelation, and it can be enhanced through local environmental legislation, as well as technological innovation. Environmental regulation’s spatial spillover impact inhibits the improvement of industrial carbon productivity in surrounding provinces, resulting in a pollution haven effect. However, there is no evident regional spillover effect of technological innovation. Therefore, we provided new perspectives from spatial spillover and structural heterogeneity to optimize low-carbon policies.