Heterogeneous Environmental Regulation,FDI And Green Total Factor Productivity

Since the founding of New China more than 70 years ago,especially in the more than40 years of reform and opening up,the promotion of industrialization and urbanization in China has brought about economic prosperity and development.However,the extensive pattern of long-term economic development has also led to the accumulation and deepening of the contradictions between resources,environment and socio-economic development faced by China.Under the contradiction between economic development and environmental pollution,promoting the development of green economy has become an urgent task.At the same time,China’s foreign direct investment(FDI)inflow continued to rise,alleviating the domestic capital gap and driving China’s economic growth.But FDI is a double-edged sword,promoting China’s economic growth but also bringing serious environmental problems.In the face of serious pollution problems,China attaches great importance to environmental protection and gradually adopts strict new standards in environmental policies to reduce environmental damage.The implementation of different types of environmental regulations and the inflow of FDI all affect the development of China’s green economy,and the development level of green economy can be measured by green total factor productivity(GTFP).Therefore,exploring the relationship between heterogeneous environmental regulation,FDI and GTFP can provide some reference for achieving win-win results of emission reduction and efficiency improvement.This paper aims to study the relationship between environmental regulation,FDI and GTFP,and put forward research hypotheses for empirical verification.Firstly,the research on environmental regulation,FDI and GTFP is sorted out and summarized,and the relevant theories are reviewed,and the framework of the impact mechanism between them is constructed.Secondly,the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2020 were used to test the proposed research hypotheses.The impact of command-controlled,marketincentivized and public voluntary environmental regulation on GTFP growth was analyzed,and the stepwise regression method was used to explore the moderating effect of FDI between environmental regulation and GTFP.Next,the threshold effect of environmental regulation between FDI and GTFP is examined.Finally,regional heterogeneity was analyzed.The main conclusions reached in this paper are as follows:First,the impact effects of three types of environmental regulation on China’s GTFP are different,command-and-control environmental regulation inhibits the growth of GTFP in China,market-incentive environmental regulation promotes the growth of GTFP in China,and public voluntary environmental regulation has no obvious impact on GTFP in China.In terms of subregions,command-and-control environmental regulation has a negative effect on GTFP growth in inland areas,but has no significant impact on GTFP growth in coastal areas.Market-incentivized environmental regulation has a positive effect on the growth of GTFP in coastal and inland areas.Public voluntary environmental regulation has no significant effect on the growth of GTFP in coastal areas,but has a negative effect on the growth of GTFP in inland areas.Second,FDI has significant regulatory effects between command-and-control,marketincentive-based environmental regulation and GTFP,which strengthens the negative relationship between command-and-control environmental regulation and GTFP,and weakens the positive relationship between market-incentivized environmental regulation and GTFP.In coastal areas,the regulatory effect of FDI on market-incentivized environmental regulation and GTFP was not significant.In inland areas,FDI has a negative regulating effect between command-and-control environmental regulation and GTFP,which has a strengthening effect on the relationship,while the regulating effect between marketincentive,public-voluntary environmental regulation and GTFP is not significant.Third,command-and-control environmental regulation has a single threshold effect between FDI and GTFP,and FDI and GTFP show an "inverted U" relationship;Marketincentivized environmental regulation has a double threshold effect between FDI and GTFP,and FDI has a weaker inhibitory effect on GTFP when the regulatory intensity is large than when the intensity is small.Public voluntary environmental regulation does not have a threshold effect between FDI and GTFP.In coastal areas,the threshold effect of the three environmental regulations is basically the same as that at the national level,and the heterogeneity is reflected in the moderate market incentive regulation,and FDI has a promoting effect on the growth of GTFP.In inland areas,command-and-control environmental regulation has a single threshold effect between FDI and GTFP,and FDI has a promoting effect on GTFP when the regulation is stronger.Market-incentivized environmental regulation has a single threshold effect between FDI and GTFP,and FDI has a negative effect on GTFP when the regulation is small.Public voluntary environmental regulation does not have a threshold effect between FDI and GTFP.Based on the conclusions,this paper puts forward suggestions such as selecting reasonable environmental regulation tools,improving the quality and level of foreign investment,and implementing environmental regulatory policies according to local conditions,so as to promote the coordinated development of environment,FDI and economy.