The Impact Of Environmental Regulation On The Export Competitiveness Of Chinese Manufacturing Industry

Lack of resources,environmental pollution and ecological damage have become common challenges to the economic development of all countries in the world.As for China,after 40 years of rapid economic development and growth,ecological and environmental issues cannot be ignored.In order to solve environmental problems,implementing environmental regulations to develop cleaner production and green production and promoting sustainable economic development have become the consensus of the public and the government.From the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" to the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan",the government has always emphasized environmental governance and protection issues,and gradually strengthened environmental regulation.In the "13th Five-Year Plan",the ecological environment protection plan is clearly stated:implement the most stringent environmental protection system and improve the overall ecological environment quality.At the specific implementation level,the government not only introduces a number of regulatory policies to control environmental pollution,but also actively explores the application of market-based regulatory tools in environmental pollution control to alleviate the contradiction between environmental pollution and economic growth to ensure sustainable development.China's manufacturing industry is facing not only domestic resources and environmental pressures,but also external competition in the international market.With the frequent occurrence of "labor shortage",China's labor costs are rising,and the cost advantage in international trade is difficult to maintain.Emerging economies such as Southeast Asian countries are squeezing China's manufacturing development space with their low-cost labor.Developed countries such as Germany and the United States have successively launched the "Industry 4.0" and "Return to Manufacturing" strategic plans.Other developing countries have also actively embedded in the global industrial chain with their low cost advantages.The global manufacturing pattern is undergoing drastic changes.Relying on the traditional cost advantage,China's foreign trade has been unable to gain a significant advantage.At this time,it is imperative to realize the transition from "made in China" to "created in China" and change the situation of China's exports of "high energy consumption,high pollution,and low added value".To this end,China proposed and implemented the "Made in China 2025" plan in 2015 to promote technological transformation and upgrading of industrial structure by encouraging technological innovation,thereby promoting product quality and export competitiveness.In the past ten years,China has become the largest manufacturing country and the largest exporting country."Made in China" has become a specific label for Chinese exports.But with the Chinese products spread across the globe and the exports grow explosively,the terms of trade of China's manufacturing are also deteriorating.As we all know,China's exports have always relied on the "low quality and low price" development model.The competitive advantage mainly comes from the low price advantage brought by low labor costs.The product quality and price are the shortcomings of China's exports.In the value chain system of global division of labor,the added value of Chinese products is low.In the critical period of the current economic restructuring,whether China's environmental regulation policy can achieve the goal of green production and protect the ecological environment,foster new advantages of China's export competition,and enhance the export competitiveness of China's manufacturing industry,has become an important issue to be studied urgently..This paper focuses on the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial international competitiveness,and is divided into five parts.The first part is the introduction.It mainly introduces the research background and research significance of this paper,expounds related concepts and theories,and explains the research contents as well as the main innovations and deficiencies.The second part is a literature review.This paper combs a series of studies on environmental regulation affecting the international competitiveness of the industry at home and abroad,summarizes the different conclusions of the existing research,and clarifies the direction of deepening research.The third part is the mechanism of environmental regulation affecting the international competitiveness of the industry.First,it analyzes the "following cost" effect and "technical innovation" effect generated by the implementation of environmental regulation policies.Secondly,the impact of the two effects on the international competitiveness of the industry is considered by constructing a two-sector production model.At the same time,on the basis of considering the heterogeneity of the industry,the relevant hypothesis about the relationship between environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness is proposed.The fourth part is an empirical analysis of environmental regulation affecting the international competitiveness of the industry.Based on the panel data of 26 manufacturing industries in China from 2007 to 2015 and refer to the extended HOV model,the system GMM method is used to empirically test the impact of environmental regulations on the international competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing industry.In addition,the manufacturing industry is further divided into heavy polluting industries and light polluting industries,and regression analysis by industry is conducted to examine the heterogeneous impact of environmental regulations.The fifth part is the policy recommendations.According to the results of theoretical analysis and empirical test,the paper puts forward reasonable policy recommendations in order to achieve a win-win situation in environmental protection and international competitiveness.