Do regional government green innovation preferences promote industrial structure upgradation in China? Econometric assessment based on the environmental regulation threshold effect model

Abstract

China has been upgrading the industrial structure (ISU) at the regional level through innovation to achieve socioeconomic progress, but there is less known about the complex intermediary mechanisms regulating the government’s green innovation preference (GGIP)-ISU nexus from a regional perspective in China. Experts agree that varying environmental regulations (ER) intensity alters the relationship dynamics between innovation and ISU. Thus, using regional panel data (2005–2019), the paper develops an ER-based threshold regression model to assess the GGIP-ISU nexus under various ER levels in China. Following the statistically acceptable stationarity test outcomes, the regression corroborated the GGIP had disrupted ISU in China. Second, the ER-threshold model depicted that GGIP flexibility and ER rigidity were found interconnected, while the GGIP-ISU connection was characterized by a U-shaped relationship in which ER acted as a threshold variable. Third, the region-based heterogeneity test reflected that there was significant disparity in the inhibitory effect of GGIP on ISU between resource and non-resource-based regions, i.e., GGIP had a more significant inhibitory influence on the ISU in the non-resource-based regions than in the resource-based regions. The paper recommends critical policy implications for the enhancement of ISU in China.

Environmental Regulation, Scientific and Technological Innovation, and Industrial Structure Upgrading in the Yellow River Basin, China

“…Based on the panel, our study found that both formal and informal environmental regulations could promote industrial structural upgrading, which was consistent with existing research findings [ 69 , 70 , 71 ]. In addition, we found that after science and technology innovation crosses a certain threshold, the interaction between informal environmental regulation and science and technology innovation is further enhanced, thus indirectly affecting the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure.…”

Can an Energy Transition Strategy Induce Urban Green Innovation? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China

“…For example, Song et al [15] found a U-shaped relationship between ER and GI, indicating that as ER increases, its role will gradually change from suppressing to stimulating GI. Yang and Zhao [16], as well as Khattak [17], studied the impact of ER on GI and arrived at the same conclusion.…”

Environmental Regulation, Resource Misallocation, and Total Factor Productivity: An Empirical Analysis Based on 284 Cities at the Prefecture-Level and Above in China

“…The core explanatory variable in this paper is the intensity of environmental regulation (ER) in each city. According to the existing literature, environmental regulation can be divided into formal regulation, which belongs to governmental actions, and informal regulation, which belongs to non-governmental organizations or individual actions [40]. In the current practice of environmental governance in China, the government still plays a dominant role, so the environmental regulation referred to in this paper focuses on the various environmental policies implemented by the government.…”