The Influence Of Environmental Regulation On International R&D Spillover Effect

Since the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has been written into the government work report in 2014,the ecological protection and innovation of the Yangtze River Basin has drawn attention to the government.On the one hand,the Yangtze River Economic Zone is locate in a favorable geographical position,not only related to the East-West interactive cooperation and coordinated development,but also affects the new pattern of opening to the outside world,and is China's innovation-driven source.On the other hand,the ecological environment of the Yangtze River economic belt is not optimistic due to overdevelopment.Therefore,taking full use of green GDP,establishing of a pragmatic and effective environmental protection system,and reinforcing the environmental protection of the Yangtze River Basin is extremely urgent,the General Secretary Xi Jinping also pointed out that the development of the Yangtze River economic zone must take the ecological priority,green development path.Neo-classical economics believes that strict environmental regulation will enhance the costs of enterprises,thus squeeze out innovation,but the "Porter hypothesis" insists that "strict and appropriate" environmental regulation can stimulate technological innovation and protect the environment as well.In recent years,the non-linear relationship between environmental regulation and technological progress has received more attention in academia,but scholars have neglected the relationship between the two in open economy.Then,under the condition of open economy,the effect of environmental regulation intensity on the international R&D spillover effect which is one of the technological progress modes in the Yangtze River Economic Zone needs further examination.At first,this paper reviews the relevant literatures and examines the development of environmental regulation and foreign direct investment and import trade which are the two channels of international R&D spills in the Yangtze River economic zone.Then,based on the panel data of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in 2003 to 2014,and take the sewage charges as a proxy variable of the environmental regulation,the influence and mechanism of environmental regulation on the international R&D spillover effect are investigated.Finally,through the entropy method,three kinds of environmental regulation index,command control type,market incentive type and voluntary participation type,are constructed,and the effects of different types of environmental regulations on international R&D spillovers are further investigated through the panel regression model.The empirical studies shows that:(1)there is an "inverted N-type" curve relationship between environmental regulation and international R&D spillovers,that is,in the lower level of environmental regulation,strengthening environmental regulation will inhibit the international R&D spillover effect,but after crossing the first inflection point of the inverted N-type curve,environmental regulation has a significant incentive for international R&D spillovers,achieving a win-win for environmental protection and innovation incentives,but too harsh environmental regulation will also inhibit the use and transformation of foreign technology in the Yangtze River;(2)environmental regulation can not only directly promote the use of foreign technology for the Yangtze River economic belt,but also indirectly promote the international R&D spillover effect through interaction with foreign direct investment and imports;(3)The influence of different types of environmental regulations on the international R&D spillover effect is heterogeneous.Different types of environmental regulation are heterogeneous to the international R&D spillovers.The order-driven and market-driven environmental regulation play a major role in the Yangtze River economic belt currently,and the incentive effect of voluntary participatory environmental regulation on the international R&D spillover effect has not yet fully revealed.In summary,the study of this article is based on the provincial panel data of the Yangtze River economic belt to explore the impact of environmental regulation on the international R&D spillover effect,to a certain extent,the results shows that the "Porter hypothesis" is also established in the open conditions.Finally,we give some relevant policy suggestions according to conclusions above and the specific situation of the Yangtze River Basin.