School of Economics and Finance, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xian 710061, China.
School of International Economics and Trade, Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics, Lanzhou 730020, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jun 15;19(12):7328. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19127328.
The expansion of government size will have dual effects on a country's green innovation. An appropriately sized government size increases marginal productivity and stimulates the development of green innovation by increasing government expenditure. On the contrary, an excessively sized government creates a huge administrative agency, which not only increases the tax burden but also damages social welfare by excessive intervention. Therefore, the effect of government size on green innovation is not linear. In order to prove this proposition, this study examines the impact of government size on green innovation in 166 countries between 1995 and 2018, using a two-way fixed effects model. The results reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between government size and the level of green innovation, indicating that optimal government size may maximize a country's green innovation output. The results further suggest that this inverted U-shaped relationship is mainly influenced by environmental regulations and financial support. Finally, our heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the inverted U-shaped relationship is more pronounced for countries with high organizational inertia and more R&D expenditure than for those with low organizational inertia and less R&D expenditure. This finding makes up for the research gap between government size and green innovation and provides a reference for countries to formulate the optimal government size to improve the level of green innovation.
政府规模的扩大对一个国家的绿色创新将产生双重影响。适当的政府规模通过增加政府支出来提高边际生产力，刺激绿色创新的发展。相反，过大的政府规模会产生庞大的行政机构，这不仅增加了税收负担，还通过过度干预损害了社会福利。因此，政府规模对绿色创新的影响不是线性的。为了证明这一命题，本研究使用双向固定效应模型，检验了 1995 年至 2018 年间 166 个国家的政府规模对绿色创新的影响。结果表明，政府规模与绿色创新水平之间呈倒 U 型关系，表明最佳政府规模可能会使一个国家的绿色创新产出最大化。结果进一步表明，这种倒 U 型关系主要受环境法规和财政支持的影响。最后，我们的异质性分析表明，对于组织惯性较高和研发支出较多的国家，这种倒 U 型关系更为明显，而对于组织惯性较低和研发支出较少的国家则不明显。这一发现弥补了政府规模与绿色创新之间的研究空白，为各国制定最佳政府规模以提高绿色创新水平提供了参考。
