School of Public Administration, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2020 Dec;27(36):45161-45174. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-10408-9. Epub 2020 Aug 11.
China has maintained great economic growth in the past and reached the status of a middle-income country. Meanwhile, the relationships among environmental pollution, environmental regulation, and economic growth have attracted wide attention. In addition, some studies have shown that economic growth is not balanced in the division of income between labor and capital, and this has become one of the most important issues in China. The conflict over the environment and income distribution is supposed to cause social welfare loss; therefore, we want to examine the impact of environmental pollution and environmental governance on labor income share. Our empirical results show that the relationship between environmental pollution and share of labor income is positive at the present stage. However, the relationship is not linear but rather an inverted-U shape in the long run. In addition, we tested the effects of environmental regulation on labor income share and found an inverted-U-shaped relationship. Although growing concern about environmental pollution adds to the pressure on the government, our statistical results suggest that there is no perfect way to resolve environmental problems. Additionally, labor unions are expected to play a different role in income distribution.
中国过去一直保持着经济的高速增长，达到了中等收入国家的地位。与此同时，环境污染、环境规制与经济增长之间的关系引起了广泛关注。此外，一些研究表明，经济增长在劳动和资本之间的收入分配上并不平衡，这已成为中国最重要的问题之一。环境和收入分配之间的冲突会导致社会福利损失；因此，我们要检验环境污染和环境治理对劳动收入份额的影响。我们的实证结果表明，现阶段环境污染与劳动收入份额之间呈正相关关系。然而，这种关系不是线性的，而是长期来看呈倒 U 型。此外，我们检验了环境规制对劳动收入份额的影响，发现了一种倒 U 型关系。虽然人们对环境污染的日益关注给政府带来了压力，但我们的统计结果表明，没有一种完美的方法可以解决环境问题。此外，工会在收入分配中预计将发挥不同的作用。
