Study On The Impact Of Fiscal Decentralization On Environmental Governance From The Perspective Of New Structural Economics

The 19 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC)pointed out that pollution prevention and control should be regarded as one of the three critical battles to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.The General Office of the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Building a Modern Environmental Governance System in 2020,and the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and The State Council on Deepening the Battle against Pollution in 2021.This series of measures fully highlights the importance of environmental governance.Although China has established a sound top-down environmental administration system,the implementation effect of many environmental policies is not satisfactory,and environmental governance is still inefficient.As the main body of environmental governance,the relationship between the central government and local government will inevitably have a direct or indirect impact on environmental governance,among which the financial relationship between the two is the key factor.China has formed a Chinese-style fiscal decentralization system of economic decentralization and political centralization,then what is the impact of this system on environmental governance? The study of this problem is directly related to the solution of the main contradiction of our society and the sustainable development of economy.In order to answer the above questions,this paper builds a theoretical analysis framework on the impact of fiscal decentralization on environmental governance from the perspective of new structural economics,a theory based on the experience of China and other developing countries,and then puts forward a theoretical hypothesis,which is empirically tested with China as a research sample.Specifically,the research contents of this paper mainly include :(1)starting from the "noumenon" rational man hypothesis of modern economics,theoretical and empirical analysis of the causal mechanism of fiscal decentralization on environmental governance;(2)Based on the perspective of new structural economics,the different impacts of fiscal decentralization on environmental governance in different development stages are analyzed theoretically and empirically;(3)Based on the perspective of new structural economics,this paper theoretically and empirically analyzes the micro-impact mechanism of fiscal decentralization on environmental governance--the self-generating capacity mechanism of enterprises;And(4)Based on the perspective of new structural economics,theoretical and empirical analysis of fiscal decentralization impact on environmental governance of the macro-view impact mechanism--development strategy mechanism.The main conclusions of this paper include:(1)Based on the stage of economic development in China,fiscal decentralization is not conducive to environmental governance in China as a whole,because the Substitution effect of fiscal decentralization on environmental governance is greater than its income effect.(2)The analysis of stage heterogeneity finds that fiscal decentralization has different effects on environmental governance at different stages of economic development due to the different Substitution effect and income effect of fiscal decentralization on environmental governance at different stages of economic development.Generally speaking,in the initial stage of economic development,the Substitution effect is greater than its income effect,and fiscal decentralization is not conducive to environmental governance;When economic development enters the high income stage,the Substitution effect is less than the income effect,and fiscal decentralization is conducive to environmental governance on the whole.Further analysis of the impact mechanism reveals that:(3)At the micro level,fiscal decentralization is beneficial for enhancing the viability of enterprises,thereby improving the level of environmental governance.(4)At the macro level,fiscal decentralization is beneficial for local governments to follow comparative advantages in their development strategies,thereby improving the level of environmental governance.Therefore,under the fiscal decentralization system,fully utilizing the roles of "effective market" and "promising government" can promote the improvement of environmental governance level.