School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha, 410006, Hunan, China.
School of Finance, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha, 410205, Hunan, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Jan;30(4):9782-9792. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-22815-1. Epub 2022 Sep 5.
The existing literature finds that mandatory environmental regulation (MER) can significantly reduce environmental pollution. However, much less is known about how the implementation of MER affects green development efficiency (GDE). Based on the Air Pollution Control Action Plan which was enforced in 2013 in China's most developed regions as an exogenous shock, we find that first, MER has a significant negative effect on the improvement of GDE by reducing regional scale efficiency. Second, MER mainly reduces the GDE of cities with stronger regulation intensities and with larger economic volumes. Third, MER also has a negative impact on regional green total factor productivity by changing technical progress. We suggest that when implementing MER, governments should enhance regional and global cooperation, promote green technology, and use comprehensive policy tools to stimulate firms' green innovation.
现有文献发现，强制性环境监管（MER）可以显著减少环境污染。然而，对于 MER 的实施如何影响绿色发展效率（GDE），人们知之甚少。基于 2013 年在中国最发达地区实施的《大气污染防治行动计划》这一外生冲击，我们发现，首先，MER 通过降低区域规模效率，对 GDE 的提高有显著的负向影响。其次，MER 主要降低了监管强度更强、经济规模更大的城市的 GDE。第三，MER 通过改变技术进步，对区域绿色全要素生产率也有负向影响。我们建议，在实施 MER 时，政府应加强区域和全球合作，推广绿色技术，并使用综合政策工具来激发企业的绿色创新。
