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Local Government Competition and Regional Green Development in China: The Mediating Role of Environmental Regulation

Author

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  • Na Zhang

    (School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Jinqian Deng

    (School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Fayyaz Ahmad

    (School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Muhammad Umar Draz

    (Independent Researcher, Scarborough, ON M1L 4P2, Canada)

Abstract

Green development is an important way to meet the challenges of ecological and environmental protection and economic growth, as well as an inevitable choice to realize China’s sustainable development in the new era. The Chinese economic system is such that local government competition has become a key factor affecting regional green development under the current leadership. Based on the inter-provincial panel data of 30 provinces in mainland China from 1997 to 2017, this paper uses the total-factor non-radial directional distance function and slack-based measure data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) to measure the green development efficiency of the provinces. Additionally, it also uses the Malmquist–Luenberger (ML) index to decompose green development efficiency and analyzes its internal driving factors. Finally, taking environmental regulation as a mediating variable, this paper empirically analyzes the influence mechanism of local government competition on green development efficiency from three perspectives including growth competition, fiscal competition and investment competition. The study found that: the green development efficiency of Chinese regions showed a downward trend, with significant regional differences; technological progress is the key factor to improve the efficiency of green development, and its role gradually decreases from eastern to western and central regions; pure technical efficiency has become a bottleneck restricting the improvement of green development efficiency, while scale efficiency shows significant regional differences; the growth competition, fiscal competition and investment competition of local government all have a significant inhibitory effect on the efficiency of green development. This paper puts forward policy suggestions supporting enterprise technology research and development, optimizing energy conservation and emission reduction as well as improving the local government performance evaluation system for green development.

Suggested Citation

  • Na Zhang & Jinqian Deng & Fayyaz Ahmad & Muhammad Umar Draz, 2020. "Local Government Competition and Regional Green Development in China: The Mediating Role of Environmental Regulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-22, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:10:p:3485-:d:359127
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    Cited by:

    1. Wang Rongjuan, 2023. "How multiple interactions between policy instruments and the policy environment affect environmental governance efficiency," Energy & Environment, , vol. 34(3), pages 621-639, May.
    2. Yingshi Shang & Yanmin Niu & Peng Song, 2023. "Regional Differences and Influencing Factors of Green Innovation Efficiency in China’s 285 Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Xiaoming Song & Ze Tian & Chenhui Ding & Chao Liu & Wei Wang & Ronggai Zhao & Yingchun Xing, 2022. "Digital Economy, Environmental Regulation, and Ecological Well-Being Performance: A Provincial Panel Data Analysis from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Fangyu Ju & Mengfan Ke, 2022. "The Spatial Spillover Effects of Environmental Regulation and Regional Energy Efficiency and Their Interactions under Local Government Competition in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-27, July.
    5. Caihua Zhou & Xinmin Zhang, 2020. "Measuring the Efficiency of Fiscal Policies for Environmental Pollution Control and the Spatial Effect of Fiscal Decentralization in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Yaling Deng & Daming You & Yang Zhang, 2021. "Can the Behavioural Spillover Effect Affect the Environmental Regulations Strategy Choice of Local Governments?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-24, May.
    7. Muyao Li & Jinsong Zhang & Ramakrishnan Ramanathan & Ruiqian Li, 2020. "Opening the Black Box: The Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Technological Innovation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-18, June.
    8. Wang, Feng & Wu, Min & Wang, Jingcao, 2023. "Can increasing economic complexity improve China's green development efficiency?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

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