Haze pollution is one of the most concerned environmental issue, it is of great significance to control haze pollution without affecting economic development. Using the panel data composed of PM2.5 concentration and other data from 278 cities in China between 2003 to 2016, this paper empirically investigates the impact of urban innovation on haze pollution and its transmission mechanism. Based on the fixed effect model, the research finds that the increase of urban innovation significantly reduced haze pollution. The result still holds after dealing with possible endogenous problems. Energy consumption and industrial agglomeration are two important transmission channels through which urban innovation affects haze pollution. Furthermore, time heterogeneity analysis shows that the negative effect of urban innovation on haze pollution increases with time. Spatial heterogeneity analysis shows that urban innovation has a greater mitigation effect on haze pollution in eastern cities than in central and western cities in China. This paper indicates that technological innovation as the main driving force for development, can provide strong support for China to achieve the aims of improving the ecological environment.

Haze pollution is one of the most concerned environmental issue, it is of great significance to control haze pollution without affecting economic development. Using the panel data composed of PM2.5 concentration and other data from 278 cities in China between 2003 to 2016, this paper empirically investigates the impact of urban innovation on haze pollution and its transmission mechanism. Based on the fixed effect model, the research finds that the increase of urban innovation significantly reduced haze pollution. The result still holds after dealing with possible endogenous problems. Energy consumption and industrial agglomeration are two important transmission channels through which urban innovation affects haze pollution. Furthermore, time heterogeneity analysis shows that the negative effect of urban innovation on haze pollution increases with time. Spatial heterogeneity analysis shows that urban innovation has a greater mitigation effect on haze pollution in eastern cities than in central and western cities in China. This paper indicates that technological innovation as the main driving force for development, can provide strong support for China to achieve the aims of improving the ecological environment.

This study evaluates the impact of China’s innovative city pilot policy on urban water pollution. Based on panel data of 278 cities in China from 2005 to 2018, we employ the difference-in-differences method and find that the policy can significantly reduce water pollution in pilot cities. The lags exist in the effect of innovative city pilot policy, but the effect remains significant in the long term. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect is more pronounced for cities in eastern and central regions of China, and the policy is particularly effective among cities at prefecture level. An examination of the underlying mechanisms shows that promotion in urban technological innovation, human capital accumulation and the advancement of industrial structure associated with the innovative city pilot policy may play a role. Our findings indicate that establishing an innovation-driven development model through policy support and enhancing urban innovation level are beneficial to reducing water pollution and achieving green development. JEL: C33; Q55; R58