Yu Hongyang, Wang Jinchao, Hou Jian, Yu Bolin, Pan Yuling
School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China.
School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China; Center for Economic Development Research, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China.
J Environ Manage. 2023 Mar 15;330:117172. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.117172. Epub 2023 Jan 3.
Green technology improvement is critical in promoting green development and mitigating negative externalities. Exploring the effect of economic growth pressure (EGP) on green technology innovation (GTI) is important for coordinated economic growth and green transformation. Using the data from 285 cities in China during 2006-2018, this study investigates the influence of EGP on GTI by taking the difference between economic growth target and previous year's actual growth rate to represent the EGP. The results indicate that EGP negatively affects GTI. When there is a 1% increase in EGP, green patent applications will fall by 3.2%. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that the negative effect of EGP is especially significant in western China compared with eastern and central regions. In addition, we find various nonlinear moderating effects between EGP and GTI by using panel threshold model. Specifically, EGP and GTI show an inverted U-shaped relationship with EGP increasing. Meanwhile, only when environmental regulation, government support, and financial development cross the thresholds will EGP have a significant role in promoting GTI. This study provides helpful implications for decision-makers to adopt a more reasonable combination of policy tools to achieve economic growth targets and low-carbon transformation.
绿色技术进步对于推动绿色发展和减轻负面外部性至关重要。探究经济增长压力（EGP）对绿色技术创新（GTI）的影响对于经济增长与绿色转型的协调发展具有重要意义。本研究利用2006 - 2018年中国285个城市的数据，通过用经济增长目标与上一年实际增长率之差来代表经济增长压力，考察了经济增长压力对绿色技术创新的影响。结果表明，经济增长压力对绿色技术创新有负面影响。当经济增长压力增加1%时，绿色专利申请量将下降3.2%。此外，异质性分析表明，与东部和中部地区相比，经济增长压力的负面影响在西部地区尤为显著。此外，我们使用面板门槛模型发现了经济增长压力与绿色技术创新之间存在各种非线性调节效应。具体而言，随着经济增长压力增加，经济增长压力与绿色技术创新呈现倒U形关系。同时，只有当环境规制、政府支持和金融发展跨越门槛时，经济增长压力才会对绿色技术创新起到显著的促进作用。本研究为决策者采用更合理的政策工具组合以实现经济增长目标和低碳转型提供了有益的启示。
