SUN Yanyan

ABSTRACT：Entering the new era, pursuing high-quality economic development has become a necessary path for economic development. Examining Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) is the most effective comprehensive evaluation standard for measuring green development. Local government competition and environmental regulations are the main factors affecting green efficiency. Deeply exploring the role of local government competition and environmental regulations on green total factor productivity is particularly important for promoting the comprehensive upgrading and transformation of China's green economy and achieving the strategy of green sustainable development.

This article uses SBM-GML to calculate the green total factor productivity and its decomposition terms of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2020. Determine the level of local government competition from the dimensions of neighboring provinces and national provinces, and construct an environmental regulation evaluation index system. By establishing a spatial econometric model, empirically analyze the impact of environmental regulation, local government competition, and the interaction between environmental regulation and local government competition on green total factor productivity. Divide the sample into three major regions: East, Central, and West, and study their regional heterogeneity.

The conclusions drawn in this article mainly include the following aspects:

First, based on the overall level, China's green total factor productivity level shows an upward trend, the line chart trend of the technical progress change index is similar to the overall green total factor productivity trend, while the technical efficiency change index curve shows a downward trend, and the technical progress level is higher than the technical efficiency level.

Secondly, environmental regulations, local government competition, and their control variables all have spatial spillover effects on green total factor productivity. From a national perspective, both local government competition and environmental regulation have promoted the improvement of green total factor productivity in both local and adjacent regions. The direct and spillover effects of the interaction between local government competition and environmental regulation are significantly negative, indicating that the interaction between the two has suppressed the improvement of green total factor productivity in the local and adjacent regions.

Thirdly, based on the regional level, the promotion effect of local government competition on green total factor productivity in both the eastern and western regions is relatively significant. Environmental regulations in the eastern region are conducive to the improvement of green total productivity, while environmental regulations in the central and western regions inhibit the improvement of green total productivity in local and adjacent regions. For the interaction between local government competition and environmental regulation, the overall effect coefficient in the eastern region is significantly positive, promoting the improvement of green total factor productivity. The overall effect coefficient in the central region is significantly negative, inhibiting the improvement of green total factor productivity.

[Keywords]: Local government competition, environmental regulation, green total factor productivity, SBM-GML, spatial econometric model.

Read the article here:     地方政府竞争、环境规制对绿色全要生产率影响的实证研究.pdf