| The rapid industrialization,urbanization and other development policies in the process of China’s economic take-off have not only promoted the rapid economic development,but also caused the continuous deterioration of the ecological environment and the continuous reduction of the environmental carrying capacity,which has affected the sustainable development of the economy and society.In recent years,with the advent of the stage of high-quality economic development and the proposal of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way,the construction of ecological civilization has gradually become one of the basic national policies of our country.The "18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China" proposed the overall layout of "five-in-one",elevating the construction of ecological civilization to a major strategic task in parallel with political construction,economic construction,cultural construction and social construction.This is the key to restoring the ecological environment and improving the quality of the environment,realizing the harmonious coexistence of man and nature,and sustainable economic and social development.Urban forest construction is an important tool and starting point to promote the construction of ecological civilization.As a living urban green infrastructure,the full play of its ecological,social and economic effects plays an important role in promoting the construction of ecological civilization.Based on the theory of public goods,the theory of externalities,the theory of ecosystem services,the theory of voting with feet,and the theory of healthy production functions,combing a large number of literatures on the functional effects of urban forest construction and drawing on domestic and foreign research results,the theoretical framework of the impact of urban forest construction on urban ecological environment,environmental migration,health cost and economic development is constructed.On this basis,this paper regards the creation of forest cities on the basis of urban forest construction as a quasi-natural experiment.Based on the panel data of 281prefecture-level and above cities in China,the impact of forest city creation on urban ecological environment,environmental migration,health costs,and economic development is empirically tested by constructing a progressive DID model.The main research contents and relevant conclusions are as follows:First,theoretical analysis.By sorting out the relevant basic theories,combined with the urban forest,the research object of this paper,the analysis finds that:The public goods attributes and externalities of urban forests have an impact on the construction and supply of urban forests;urban forest has a good ecological environment effect through the play of its natural attributes,which improves and enhances the quality of the urban environment,which is the basis for urban forest to produce other effects;on the basis of improving the quality of the urban environment,according to the theory of "voting with your feet" and the theory of health production function,urban forests have an impact on residents’ migration and residents’ health,and promote the improvement of the level of human capital in the immigrant areas and the reduction of health expenditures such as medical and health care,thereby promoting the economic development of the immigrant region;urban forest construction can also have an impact on economic development by promoting tourism,health care,consumption,etc;finally,according to the ecosystem service theory,urban forest construction has a benign effect on the coordinated and sustainable development of the city’s "nature-economy-society".Second,urban forest construction has ecological and environmental effects.Urban forest construction can significantly reduce urban haze pollution;there are natural ecological heterogeneity between northern and southern cities and economic heterogeneity between cities in different regions in the process of urban forest construction to reduce haze,and there are differences in the haze reduction effect on cities with different pollution levels;urban forest construction can lead to the accumulation of human capital in the city by promoting the generation of environmental migrants,promote the high-quality development of the urban economy and technological innovation,and at the same time lead to changes in the industrial structure,thereby reducing the level of urban haze pollution.Third,urban forest construction has the effect of environmental migration.The construction of urban forests increases the sales area of urban housing,which has a positive effect on the inflow of labor;the heterogeneity analysis according to the difference of socio-economic environment and geographical environment shows that there are natural ecological heterogeneity between northern and southern cities and economic heterogeneity between different regional cities in the process of urban forest construction promoting housing sales area;the heterogeneity analysis according to the income level shows that the migration of high-income residents pays more attention to the urban ecological environment than low-income residents;urban forest construction can attract residents to move in by reducing urban haze pollution,improving urban ecological environment and increasing expected income.Fourth,urban forest construction has a health cost effect.Urban forest construction can reduce the health cost of cities;the heterogeneity analysis based on the difference of socio-economic environment and income level shows that urban forest construction in economically developed areas and high-income areas has a greater effect on reducing health costs than in economically underdeveloped areas and low-income areas;Urban forest construction can further promote residents’ health by reducing urban environmental pollution,improving urban environmental quality and promoting social interaction,thereby reducing health costs.Fifth,urban forest construction has the effect of economic development.The construction of urban forest can promote the development of urban economy;According to the heterogeneity analysis based on the difference of city size and income level,the effect of urban forest construction on the economic development of large and medium cities is greater than that of small cities,and the effect of urban forest construction on economic development in low-income areas is better than that in high-income areas;urban forest construction can affect urban economic development by exerting ecological and social benefits such as improving urban environmental quality,environmental migration,and reducing health costs.Based on the above analysis,the following policy recommendations are put forward:First,the government and academia should continue to pay more attention to the research and practice of urban forest construction.The practical and theoretical research of "clear waters and green mountains are as good as mountains of gold and silver" needs to be carried out continuously and in depth for a long time.The government should give greater support from various aspects such as understanding,publicity,and investment.Second,local governments should reasonably select the species of forest vegetation in the process of urban forest construction according to the different characteristics of different forest vegetation and the differences in the geographical environment and climate of cities in the north and south,so as to maximize the natural ecological effect of urban forests.Third,pay attention to the guiding role of urban forest construction in the flow of labor,so as to promote the high-quality development of the urban economy.According to the differences in the sensitivity of residents to the ecological environment in different income groups,regions with different levels of economic development,and regions with different geographical environments,the guiding role of urban forest construction on labor mobility should be brought into full play.Fourth,pay attention to the health benefits of urban forest construction.Through the construction and management of urban forests,the urban environment can be improved,and the amount of health expenditures can be reduced,so as to prevent the additional health expenditures caused by the decline of environmental quality from crowding out other investment and consumption,and affecting the high-quality development of the urban economy.The government should fully understand the different effects of ecological environment improvement on the health expenditure of different regions and different income groups,and formulate environmental and health service policies that are biased and beneficial to underdeveloped regions and low-income groups,so as to prevent them from falling into environmental,health and even economic problems,thereby increasing the existing imbalances between regions and groups.Fifth,the government should actively promote the comprehensive play of various functional effects of urban forests,so as to promote the coordinated and sustainable development of urban "nature-economy-society". |
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