IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i8p3720-d1638565.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Government Budget Management Reconcile Environmental Governance with Sustainable Economic Development?

Author

Listed:
  • Jingya Qu

    (School of Economics, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China)

  • Wenwen Ding

    (School of Economics, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China)

  • Jinghao Li

    (Trier College of Sustainable Technology, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China)

Abstract

Government budget management serves as a critical enabler for the development of a green economy and represents an essential pathway to promote sustainable urban development. The government budget delineates the scope and direction of governmental activities, while the advancement of a green economy heavily relies on the support of budgetary funds. Adopting the perspective of government budget management capabilities, this study examines the budget deviations across 288 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2021. By constructing a double fixed-effects model, we assess whether government budget management can effectively balance environmental governance with sustainable economic development, thereby fostering green economic growth. The findings indicate that government budget management indeed achieves this balance, with revenue management playing a more significant role compared to expenditure management. Mechanism analyses reveal that at the revenue level, government budget management regulates local economic behavior through tax constraints, while at the expenditure level, it drives green economic development by promoting technological innovation. Heterogeneity analysis further demonstrates that geographical differences, humanistic environment factors, and the degree of marketization significantly influence the development of the green economy. Based on these insights, this paper proposes targeted policy recommendations aimed at mitigating the tension between environmental governance and sustainable economic development and facilitating the attainment of green economic objectives ultimately.

Suggested Citation

  • Jingya Qu & Wenwen Ding & Jinghao Li, 2025. "Can Government Budget Management Reconcile Environmental Governance with Sustainable Economic Development?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-18, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3720-:d:1638565
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3720/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3720/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Covaleski, Mark A. & Dirsmith, Mark W., 1988. "The use of budgetary symbols in the political arena: An historically informed field study," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 1-24, January.
    2. Eugenio Anessi-Pessina & Carmela Barbera & Mariafrancesca Sicilia & Ileana Steccolini, 2016. "Public sector budgeting: a European review of accounting and public management journals," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(3), pages 491-519, March.
    3. Elena Gennari & Raffaela Giordano & Sandro Momigliano, 2005. "Dealing with Unexpected Shocks to the Budget," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 61(2), pages 201-219, July.
    4. Can Chen & Yanbing Han, 2019. "Following the money: The political determinants of E-fiscal transparency in US states," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 732-754, May.
    5. Lai, Lifeng & Li, Xin, 2024. "Resource curse, public crisis, and the road to sustainable development in emerging Asia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Ionica Oncioiu & Tatiana Dănescu & Maria-Alexandra Popa, 2020. "Air-Pollution Control in an Emergent Market: Does It Work? Evidence from Romania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-15, April.
    7. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-11-2013-1532 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Fernández, Esther & Pérez, Rafaela & Ruiz, Jesús, 2011. "Optimal green tax reforms yielding double dividend," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4253-4263, July.
    9. Yuanying Chi & Zhengquan Guo & Yuhua Zheng & Xingping Zhang, 2014. "Scenarios Analysis of the Energies’ Consumption and Carbon Emissions in China Based on a Dynamic CGE Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-26, January.
    10. Hao Yao & Xiulin Gu & Qing Yu, 2023. "Impact of Graduate Student Expansion and Innovative Human Capital on Green Total Factor Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, January.
    11. Eugenio Anessi-Pessina & Carmela Barbera & Mariafrancesca Sicilia & Ileana Steccolini, 2016. "Public sector budgeting: a European review of accounting and public management journals," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(3), pages 491-519, March.
    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. van Helden, Jan & Caperchione, Eugenio & Pattaro, Anna Francesca, 2023. "Use and non-use of accounting information: The case of controversial projects in public and non-profit settings," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Chaturika Seneviratne & Zahirul Hoque, 2024. "The interplay of episodic power in enabling and coercive budgetary designs in universities: A case study," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(1), pages 1011-1036, March.
    3. Vakulenko Veronika & Mattei Giorgia, 2023. "Reforming the Public Sector in Eastern European and Former Soviet Union Countries: A Systematic Literature Review," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 55-79, June.
    4. Modell, Sven & Yang, ChunLei, 2018. "Financialisation as a strategic action field: An historically informed field study of governance reforms in Chinese state-owned enterprises," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 41-59.
    5. Solabomi Omobola Ajibolade, Ph.D, FCA, FIMLS, ACTI, 2013. "Drivers of Choice of Management Accounting System Designs in Nigerian Manufacturing Companies," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 3(9), pages 45-57, July.
    6. Hoque, Zahirul, 2014. "20 years of studies on the balanced scorecard: Trends, accomplishments, gaps and opportunities for future research," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 33-59.
    7. María Verónica Alderete & Lucia Andrea Díaz & Nicolás Álvarez, 2020. "Análisis exploratorio de las solicitudes de acceso a la información pública durante el período 2017-2019 en las capitales de provincia de Argentina, CABA y Bahía Blanca," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4302, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    8. Isaak Mengesha & Debraj Roy, 2025. "Carbon pricing drives critical transition to green growth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Antimiani, Alessandro & Costantini, Valeria & Kuik, Onno & Paglialunga, Elena, 2016. "Mitigation of adverse effects on competitiveness and leakage of unilateral EU climate policy: An assessment of policy instruments," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 246-259.
    10. Arwan Gunawan & Winwin Yadiati & Harry Suharman & K. Poppy Sofia, 2020. "Linkages to Budgetary Control and Budgetary Absorption Performance," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(5), pages 304-316.
    11. Makoto Kuroki, 2022. "Impact of Depreciation Information on Capital Budgeting among Local Governments: A Survey Experiment," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 201-213, June.
    12. Tancredi Pascucci & Giuseppina Maria Cardella & Brizeida Hernàndez-Sànchez & Jose Carlos Sànchez-Garcìa, 2022. "Environmental Sensitivity to Form a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-17, August.
    13. Oueslati, Walid, 2013. "Short and Long-term Effects of Environmental Tax Reform," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 146354, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    14. Baxter, Jane & Chua, Wai Fong, 2003. "Alternative management accounting research--whence and whither," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 97-126.
    15. Wesseh, Presley K. & Lin, Boqiang, 2019. "Environmental policy and ‘double dividend’ in a transitional economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    16. Cui, Lianbiao & Li, Rongjing & Song, Malin & Zhu, Lei, 2019. "Can China achieve its 2030 energy development targets by fulfilling carbon intensity reduction commitments?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 61-73.
    17. repec:dau:papers:123456789/2860 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Guillamón María-Dolores & Ríos Ana-María & Prijaković Simona, 2024. "The Impact of Budget Transparency on Budget Credibility: Evidence From Croatian Cities," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 19(2), pages 119-135.
    19. Farrar, Jonathan, 2011. "Tax fairness in Canadian government budgets: How fair is ‘fair’?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 365-375.
    20. Kakkuri-Knuuttila, Marja-Liisa & Lukka, Kari & Kuorikoski, Jaakko, 2008. "Straddling between paradigms: A naturalistic philosophical case study on interpretive research in management accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(2-3), pages 267-291.
    21. Tian Zhao & Zhixin Liu, 2022. "Drivers of CO 2 Emissions: A Debt Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-18, February.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3720-:d:1638565. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.