IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v92y2026ics1544612326001388.html

Spatial impact of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones on industrial structure upgrading in China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Xingyan
  • He, Yu

Abstract

This study applies a multiperiod spatial difference-in-differences approach to explore the Green Finance Reform and Innovation (GFRI) pilot zones’ effect on industrial structure upgrading (ISU) with a provincial level panel data during 2012-2022. The Dagum Gini coefficient reveals the spatiotemporal pattern of ISU. Benchmark analysis demonstrates that the GFRI directly and indirectly promotes pilot and nonpilot zones’ ISU. Besides, additional tests reveal that: a) the GFRI promotes ISU through technological innovation; b) regional financial development has a pronounced moderating effect on how the GFRI affects ISU; c) establishing pilot zones in different regions has heterogeneous effects on ISU.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Xingyan & He, Yu, 2026. "Spatial impact of green finance reform and innovation pilot zones on industrial structure upgrading in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:92:y:2026:i:c:s1544612326001388
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2026.109607
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612326001388
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2026.109607?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Qiutong Xue & Sixian Feng & Muchen Li, 2024. "The Impact of Digital Finance on Industrial Structure: Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, May.
    2. Shen, Hongshan & Qin, Mengyao & Li, Tianyi & Zhang, Xuan & Zhao, Yang, 2024. "Digital finance and industrial structure upgrading: Evidence from Chinese counties," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    3. Antonelli, Cristiano, 2006. "Localized technological change and factor markets: constraints and inducements to innovation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 224-247, June.
    4. Yang, Bingqing & Liu, Yue, 2025. "Green finance reform, environmental regulation, and regional green and low-carbon development," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(PC).
    5. He, Yu & Deng, Jiaxin & Zhang, Xiaoqi, 2024. "How does the technological finance cooperation pilot policy affect prefecture-level cities’ high quality economic development in China?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    6. Du, Kerui & Cheng, Yuanyuan & Yao, Xin, 2021. "Environmental regulation, green technology innovation, and industrial structure upgrading: The road to the green transformation of Chinese cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    7. Diana M. Burton & Irma A. Gomez & H. Alan Love, 2011. "Environmental Regulation Cost and Industry Structure Changes," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 87(3), pages 545-557.
    8. Da Gao & Linfang Tan & Yue Chen, 2025. "Smarter is greener: can intelligent manufacturing improve enterprises’ ESG performance?," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Ge, Tao & Cai, Xuesen & Song, Xiaowei, 2022. "How does renewable energy technology innovation affect the upgrading of industrial structure? The moderating effect of green finance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 1106-1114.
    10. Wang, Di & Ren, Cairu & Zhou, Tao, 2021. "Understanding the impact of land finance on industrial structure change in China: Insights from a spatial econometric analysis," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Da Gao & Xiaotian Zhou & Xiaowei Liu, 2024. "The Bright Side of Uncertainty: The Impact of Climate Policy Uncertainty on Urban Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-15, June.
    12. Zhang, Yunbin & Zhao, Shiyuan, 2025. "The synergistic effect of financial development and fiscal education expenditure: A contribution pathway to high-quality economic growth," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PG).
    13. Shen, Yuchen & Ren, Xiaoping, 2023. "Digital finance and upgrading of industrial structure: Prefecture-level evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PB).
    14. Wu, Ning & Liu, ZuanKuo, 2021. "Higher education development, technological innovation and industrial structure upgrade," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    15. Jiao, Yong & Wang, Gaofei & Li, Chengyou & Pan, Jia, 2024. "Digital inclusive finance, factor flow and industrial structure upgrading: Evidence from the yellow river basin," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    16. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    17. Wang, Quan-Jing & Tang, Kai & Hu, Hai-Qing, 2022. "The impact of digital finance on green innovation: Evidence from provinces in China," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 1(1).
    18. Da Gao & Linfang Tan & Yue Chen, 2025. "Unlocking Carbon Reduction Potential of Digital Trade: Evidence from China’s Comprehensive Cross-border E-Commerce Pilot Zones," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(1), pages 21582440251, February.
    19. Da Gao & Xiaotian Zhou & Jing Wan, 2024. "Unlocking sustainability potential: The impact of green finance reform on corporate ESG performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4211-4226, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Zhaowen & Wu, Ge & Miao, Zhuang & Liu, Yuan & Guo, Anda, 2025. "How Resource-Exhausted City transition program enable green technological innovation: Evidence from county-level macro and micro perspectives in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    2. Shen, Hongshan & Qin, Mengyao & Li, Tianyi & Zhang, Xuan & Zhao, Yang, 2024. "Digital finance and industrial structure upgrading: Evidence from Chinese counties," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    3. Liu, Jiamin & Zhang, Jiaoning & Ma, Xiaoyu & Zhao, Bin & Zhang, Mengyu, 2024. "The road to sustainable development: Can the new energy demonstration city policy promote the industrial structure transformation?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PB).
    4. Zhou, Yuanxiang & Liu, Huayan & Chen, Chan & Ma, Yingqi, 2025. "The impact of digital inclusive finance on green economic efficiency: Pathways to inclusive sustainability," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Zhang, Yuchi, 2025. "AI-driven industrial structure upgrading: The moderating mechanism of inclusive finance development and regional differences analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Ling, Yi, 2025. "Digital financial development and Chinese art prices," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PG).
    7. Shangui Peng & Jian Wang & Hao Sun & Zhengning Guo, 2022. "How Does the Spatial Misallocation of Land Resources Affect Urban Industrial Transformation and Upgrading? Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-22, September.
    8. Li, Meiyi & Fan, Yanmei & Guo, Cheng & Li, Xiaokun, 2025. "Tourism prosperity and high-quality economic development," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    9. Jing Xu & Dong Chen & Rongrong Liu & Maoxian Zhou & Yunxiao Kong, 2021. "Environmental Regulation, Technological Innovation, and Industrial Transformation: An Empirical Study Based on City Function in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-23, November.
    10. Cheng, Xiaoqiang & Guo, Wenjuan & Teng, Yue & Yao, Dingjun & Zhou, Hua, 2025. "Impact of fintech on carbon emissions in China: Evidence from the perspectives of green finance and financial efficiency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    11. Yan, Zheming & Sun, Zao & Shi, Rui & Zhao, Minjuan, 2023. "Smart city and green development: Empirical evidence from the perspective of green technological innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    12. Chanyuan Liu & Long Xin & Jinye Li & Huaping Sun, 2022. "The Impact of Renewable Energy Technology Innovation on Industrial Green Transformation and Upgrading: Beggar Thy Neighbor or Benefiting Thy Neighbor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-28, September.
    13. Haicheng Zhu & Xingyu Qi & Minghao Xu & Jian Su & Zerong Wang, 2025. "Digital finance, industrial structure upgrading, and energy efficiency in China: a provincial-level empirical analysis," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    14. Ding, Song & Wei, Siyue & Zhang, Huahan & Hu, Jiaqi, 2025. "Promotion or inhibition? Unveiling the heterogeneous effects and mechanism of the digital economy on carbon emission efficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    15. Zhang, Mi & Zhou, Ning & Gao, Jie & Jiang, Ping & Zhang, Yang & Wang, Yining & Chen, Lusha, 2025. "The long-term impact of entrepreneurial financing on job creation based on the roles of venture capital and angel investment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    16. Decai Tang & Ziqian Zhao & Wenwen Shen & Jianqun Zhang & Yuehong Kong & Valentina Boamah, 2022. "Research on the Impact of Digital Finance on the Industrial Structure Upgrading of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the Perspective of R&D Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    17. Li, Xukai & Wang, Tengkun, 2026. "Digital transformation, financial support, and industry chain resilience," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    18. Muhammad, Tufail & Ni, Guohua & Chen, Zhenling & Mallek, Sabrine & Dudek, Marek & Mentel, Grzegorz, 2024. "Addressing resource curse: How mineral resources influence industrial structure dynamics of the BRI 57 oil-exporting countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    19. Xu, Hao, 2026. "Unveiling the role of digital finance in technological catch-up: A multisector growth model with firm-level evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    20. Lin, Boqiang & Zhou, Yicheng, 2021. "How does vertical fiscal imbalance affect the upgrading of industrial structure? Empirical evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:92:y:2026:i:c:s1544612326001388. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.