Research On The Regional Differences Of Environmental Regulation And Its Impact On Eco-Innovation In China

With the spread of economic globalization,the acceleration of industrialization process and the deepening of urbanization,human beings are facing the increasing pressure from environmental and resources,and now the concept of sustainable development is the common understanding of the development of the world economy.In China,there are many contradictions between economic growth and environmental problems.Therefore,China has adjusted its direction in the development strategy by making efforts to ecological civilization construction and taking the path of innovation-driven development.How can we achieve ecological transformation while maintaining national competitiveness? Building an eco-innovation(EI)system has become the best choice for sustainable development in China.As a key factor in promoting green development and economic competitiveness,EI is attracting more and more attention.Many studies have explored the analytical framework that influences EI.Because of the dual externalities of EI,environmental regulation will have a complex impact on EI.The theory that environmental regulation can promote EI is the famous Potter hypothesis,but this argument is still controversial.The opponents think that regulation will increase enterprises' environmental cost and inhibit innovation.While proponents believe that the pressure from environmental regulation can motivate enterprises to improve technology to achieve regulation standard.Regional or spatial factors are often ignored in these discussions,but regional differences are likely to be an important factor affecting the establishment of the Potter hypothesis.Therefore,this paper will mainly discuss these questions: does the EI effect of environmental regulation exist? Is there any regional difference in the EI effect of environmental regulation? Is there a nonlinear relationship between environmental regulation and EI? If yes,what are the threshold conditions for the establishment of the Potter hypothesis?On the basis of clarifying the main scientific basis and important concept of this article,depicted the current environmental problems,environmental regulations,the development of EI in China.From 2005 to 2015,the spatial pattern of China's environmental regulation has gone through the transformation from "high concentration in Northwest and Southeast" to "high concentration in coastal area and along the river",and finally formed the pattern of "T" character.The EI output of China almost all concentrated on the southeastern side of the "Hu Huanyong" line and with the passage of time,forming a pattern of "decreasing from east to west" and "big cities perform better than small cities".In the empirical part,by using the panel data of environmental regulation and EI at the level of 285 China cities from 2003 to 2015 and the knowledge production function model,analyzed the impact of environmental regulation on EI and its regional differences.The results show environmental regulation has a positive and significant impact on China's EI performance,which confirms that the "Potter hypothesis" establish in China.Moreover,the improvement of environmental regulation in adjacent cities has a positive effect on the improvement of local EI performance,indicating that the spatial correlation of environmental regulation should also be incorporated into the framework of EI.In addition,the economic development level,innovation investment and opening-up policy also have a positive impact on the EI,but the increase in the proportion of the second industry will inhibit the EI performance.Further,cluster regression found that there are regional differences in the EI effect of environmental regulation: the promotion effect is more significant in the eastern region than in the central and western regions,while it is inhibited in the northeast area.Based on the above results,conclude that there is "threshold effect" in the establishment of Potter hypothesis.This paper further used the panel threshold model to explore the threshold conditions.The results show that only when the environmental regulation intensity is located in the appropriate range,the EI benefits of environmental regulation can be brought into play,that is,the relationship between the two is inverted "U" curve.In addition,only the proper intensity of environmental regulation cannot promote the EI performance of a city.Only when the economic development level,R&D investment,industrial structure of the city reach a certain threshold,the "Potter hypothesis" can be established.Finally,according to the above analysis,three policy suggestions are put forward: improving the policy system guided by EI,implementing regional differentiated regulation policies and establish cross regional administrative system.