Research On Effect Of Environmental Regulation On Emission Reduction Based On Porter Hypothesis

China has achieved tremendous achievements on economic construction since the reform and opening up.Nowadays China has become the second largest economy in the world.The people's living standards and the national strength of the country have undergone tremendous changes.However,we should be clearly aware of the unsustainability of the current economic development model.China has still not walked out of the traditional development model.High input,high pollution,and low output are still the typical characteristics.Actions will be taken to govern environment only after it has been pulluted.It is exactly the same things that develped countries have experienced.Lots of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are generated in the process,which has a serious impact on people's life.Environmental protection is a key problem that must be faced.Due to the scarcity of environmental resources and the market failure phenomenon represented by the negative externalities of environmental pollution,it is necessary to strengthen government environmenatl regulation.However in the economics practice,there are two different views on whether regulation should be strengthened.One is the ‘following the cost theory'and the other is ‘Porter hypothesis theory'.In the following the cost theory,it is believed that environmental regulations have an extrusion effect on R & D funds,which is not conducive to producers' innovation in clean technology.It will finally increase the pollutant emissions.While Porter's hypothesis theory is contrary to that.They hold the view that strict environmental regulations can force companies to innovate green technologies.In that way production efficiency will be improved and companies will gain compeyiviness,which will led to pollutant emissions reduction.The emission reduction effect of environmental regulation has been a controversial topic among scholars.Environmental regulations have positive or negetive effect on pollutant emission.Can environmental regulations affect pollution emissions by influencing technological innovation? What is the relationship between environmental regulation and green technology? The analysis of this issue has important theoretical and practical significance for China's environmental protection and green technology innovation.The cost theory and Porter's hypothesis have been summarized in the literature.In the empirical part,the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2015 are used to study the impact of environmental regulation on carbon emission intensity.The intermediary effect is used to test whether environmental regulation can affect carbon emission intensity by promoting green technology innovation.After determining the transmission mechanism,the threshold effect is used to test the possible non-linear relationship between environmental regulation and green technology innovation.Based on the above empirical results,the following conclusions are drawn:(1)Porter hypothesis theory is applicable to China,and environmental regulation can effectively reduce carbon emission intensity.(2)Environmental regulation can reduce the intensity of carbon emission by promoting the transmission of green technology innovation.(3)There is a threshold effect between environmental regulation and green technology innovation.Strict environmental regulation plays a stronger role in promoting green technology innovation.