Does central environmental inspection promote the industrial structure upgrading in China? An attention-based view

Abstract

While central environmental inspection (CEI), a sort of campaign-style enforcement, has been adopted in China to tackle environmental issues, it is unclear if the CEI has promoted industrial structure upgrading. Based on a sample of 279 cities from 2011 to 2018 in China, this study investigates the impact of CEI on industrial structure upgrading and its intrinsic mechanism using the difference-in-differences approach (DID). The results reveal that 1) CEI significantly promoted industrial structure upgrading. 2) Local government environmental attention played a mediating role between CEI and industrial structure upgrading. 3) Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the effect of CEI on industrial structure upgrading differed significantly with regional discrepancies and the officials’ promotion motivation. Specifically, the CEI had greater effects on the eastern region and those cities whose officials have a strong promotion motivation. This study indicates that the central government should continue to promote routine inspection, special inspection, and look-back mechanism construction, thus enhancing the sustainability of the industrial structure upgrading effect. Overall, this study contributes to industrial structure upgrading theoretical research and offers useful insights into the environmental governance of emerging countries.

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.…”

Smart city construction and intelligent development of urban industries: Empirical evidence from China

“…Although research literature directly relating the construction of smart cities to urban industrial intelligence is not yet abundant, related fields provide important perspectives for understanding their interaction. These studies mainly involve the connection between smart cities and industrial development, exploring the role of smart city infrastructure and technology in promoting urban industrial growth and upgrading 29 . Also, the research focuses on how urban digital transformation fosters industrial intelligence 30 , particularly the application of digital technologies in urban industries and their impact on operational efficiency and innovation capacity 31 .…”