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The impact of income inequality on green innovation: Based on the perspective of institutional environment

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  • Luo, Wenjing
  • Tao, Dali
  • Liu, Tianqi

Abstract

Based on the perspective of institutional environment, we adopt a fixed effect model and quantile regression to explore the impact of income inequality on green innovation by employing the panel data of 30 provinces from 2006 to 2019. The results show that income inequality impedes green innovation. More specifically, income inequality only has a significant impact on green innovation in the 75th quantiles, while in other quantiles, the estimated coefficients of income inequality are not significant. Furthermore, income inequality has a stronger negative impact on green product innovation than on green process innovation. Market systems, environmental regulation systems and intellectual property protection systems can mitigate the negative effect of income inequality on green innovation. More strikingly, in the central and western regions of China, institutional environment effectively alleviates the negative impact of income inequality on green innovation; this mitigation effect is not observed in eastern region.

Suggested Citation

  • Luo, Wenjing & Tao, Dali & Liu, Tianqi, 2026. "The impact of income inequality on green innovation: Based on the perspective of institutional environment," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:techno:v:151:y:2026:i:c:s0166497225002330
    DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2025.103401
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