School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 30;18(9):4828. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18094828.
Improvement of green total factor productivity (GTFP) through environmental regulation is of great practical significance in promoting the high-quality development of urban economies. Based on panel data for 163 cities in China from 2003 to 2016, five indicators were selected to quantify the effects of environmental regulation: the SO removal rate, smoke and dust removal rate, solid waste utilization rate, domestic sewage treatment rate, and waste harmless treatment rate. This study evaluated the impact of environmental regulation on urban GTFP, and analyzed the threshold effect of urban economic development levels. The research results showed that the impact of environmental regulations on GTFP changed as the level of urban economic development increases. When the economic development level was low, environmental regulation had a significant positive effect on GTFP, especially the SO removal rate. When the economy developed to reach a medium level, the impact of environmental regulation on GTFP was negative. When the economic development level was high, the SO removal rate still had a significant positive impact on GTFP. The solid waste utilization rate had a significant negative impact on GTFP. It was concluded that the government should consider the local economic development level when formulating environmental regulation policies.
通过环境规制提高绿色全要素生产率（GTFP）对促进城市经济的高质量发展具有重要的现实意义。本文基于 2003-2016 年中国 163 个城市的面板数据，选取 SO2去除率、烟尘去除率、固体废弃物利用率、城市生活污水处理率和工业废物无害化处理率 5 个指标，量化环境规制的作用。本文评估了环境规制对城市 GTFP 的影响，并分析了城市经济发展水平的门槛效应。研究结果表明，环境规制对 GTFP 的影响随着城市经济发展水平的提高而变化。当经济发展水平较低时，环境规制对 GTFP 有显著的正向影响，特别是 SO2去除率。当经济发展到中等水平时，环境规制对 GTFP 的影响为负。当经济发展水平较高时，SO2去除率仍对 GTFP 有显著的正向影响。固体废弃物利用率对 GTFP 有显著的负向影响。因此，政府在制定环境规制政策时应考虑当地的经济发展水平。
