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Does the Construction of a Water Ecological Civilization City Improve Green Total Factor Productivity? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China

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  • Hongzhong Fan

    (School of Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China)

  • Shuang Tao

    (School of Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China)

  • Shujahat Haider Hashmi

    (Department of Management Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad 75260, Pakistan)

Abstract

Taking Water Ecological City Pilot (WECP) policy as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper adopts the PSM-DID method to investigate the impact of the WECP policy on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of China’s prefecture-level cities. The results show that the implementation of the WECP policy significantly inhibits the improvement of GTFP. Furthermore, we find the implementation of the WECP policy has squeezed out government technological expenditures to some extent and aggravated the compliance cost of enterprises, which has not caused the “innovation compensation effect”, thus failing to improve GTFP. The heterogeneity analyses show that the policy effects vary with the imbalance of China’s regional development and resource endowments. Developed regions can better overcome the possible negative impact that comes with policy implementation. Governments need to formulate different policy strategies and plans from an overall macro perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongzhong Fan & Shuang Tao & Shujahat Haider Hashmi, 2021. "Does the Construction of a Water Ecological Civilization City Improve Green Total Factor Productivity? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:22:p:11829-:d:676914
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    2. Wasi Ul Hassan Shah & Yuting Lu & Gang Hao & Hong Yan & Rizwana Yasmeen, 2022. "Impact of “Three Red Lines” Water Policy (2011) on Water Usage Efficiency, Production Technology Heterogeneity, and Determinant of Water Productivity Change in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-23, December.
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    4. Rongrong Shi & Dian Song & Guoqiang Rui & Hainan Wu, 2022. "How the Establishment of the National Civilized City Promotes Urban Green Development: From the Perspective of Administrative Competing Theory—A Quasi Experiment Study in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-18, September.

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