School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
College of Economics, Sichuan Agricultural University Chengdu, Chengdu, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Jan;28(2):1502-1518. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-10239-8. Epub 2020 Aug 25.
This research investigates the dynamic interactive associations among sustainable investment in the energy sector, air pollution, and sustainable development. To this end, it employs a "one-step" system-generalized method of moments (GMM) and "one-step" differential-GMM estimators, covering the period between 1996 and 2017. In this context, it utilizes the simultaneous equations of the dynamic panel data model for panel data of 27 Chinese provinces and municipalities. We have developed a new model of sustainable development, which incorporates sustainable investment in the energy sector and air pollution to offer a robust theoretical foundation for considering the underlying relations. The system-GMM estimator is used for the full data set; however, differential-GMM is utilized for the subsets of data, in order to tackle the small sample bias problem. The empirical outcomes provide several vital insights in that they yield mixed findings for the aggregated sample and subsets of data. For example, a two-way causal relationship occurs for all the panels, except the central part (medium development regions), between sustainable investment in the energy sector and sustainable development. Contrary to this, causality runs from air pollution to sustainable investment in the energy sector in a full data set and the central part (medium dev.). Nevertheless, the opposite is true in the case of the eastern part (most developed regions) of China. Still, the same relationship runs in either direction in the case of the western part (least developed regions). On the other way around, the feedback hypothesis of causality is confirmed, across all the samples, between air pollution and sustainable development. Hence, sustainable development and air pollution are overwhelmingly interdependent, in the country as well as the province and municipality level of the Chinese economy.
本研究调查了能源部门可持续投资、空气污染和可持续发展之间的动态互动关系。为此，它采用了“一步”系统广义矩估计（GMM）和“一步”差分 GMM 估计器，涵盖了 1996 年至 2017 年的时间。在这种情况下，它利用了中国 27 个省和直辖市的面板数据动态面板数据模型的联立方程。我们开发了一个新的可持续发展模型，该模型将能源部门的可持续投资和空气污染纳入其中，为考虑潜在关系提供了坚实的理论基础。系统 GMM 估计器用于全数据集；然而，差分 GMM 用于数据子集，以解决小样本偏差问题。实证结果提供了一些重要的见解，因为它们对总样本和数据子集的结果产生了混合的发现。例如，对于所有面板，除了中部地区（中等发达地区），能源部门的可持续投资与可持续发展之间存在双向因果关系。与此相反，在全数据集和中部地区（中等发达地区），空气污染对能源部门的可持续投资存在因果关系。然而，在中国东部地区（最发达地区）则相反。然而，在西部地区（最不发达地区），情况则相反。相反，在所有样本中，空气污染和可持续发展之间都存在因果关系的反馈假设。因此，在中国以及中国的省和直辖市层面，可持续发展和空气污染都存在着相互依存的关系。
