| After the implementation of China’s tax-sharing reform in 1994,local governments became relatively independent,and at the same time,under a system where the promotion of officials was based on GDP as the main assessment criterion,local governments competed for economic resources by engaging in spending competition.The enthusiasm shown by local governments in their competition for spending has contributed to the rapid growth of China’s economy.However,this "competition for economic growth" has brought about a highly polluting and sloppy form of economic development,causing environmental damage and waste of resources,and hindering the green development of China.The report of the20 th Party Congress clearly points out that "promoting green and low-carbon economic and social development is a key link to achieving high-quality development,and we should promote green development and harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature." Therefore,it is important to study the effect of local government expenditure competition on green development to reshape the competition mechanism of local governments,improve the government’s environmental governance capacity and promote green development.It can also provide useful reference experience for other countries and regions,and promote the sustainable development of global economy and society.This paper first analyses the background and significance of the study,and collates and reviews the literature.Secondly,on the basis of summarising the existing theories,the mechanism of the impact of local government expenditure competition on green development is analysed and the corresponding research hypothesis is proposed.Then,the intensity of local government expenditure competition and the level of green development are measured,and the trends and distribution characteristics of the two are analysed at the national,regional,provincial and city levels respectively according to the measurement results.Finally,an econometric model is constructed based on panel data of 283 cities at prefecture level and above from 2011 to 2020 to empirically test the impact of local government expenditure competition on green development.Through theoretical and empirical analysis,the following basic conclusions are drawn:First,there is a certain spending competition behavior among local governments in China,and the intensity of local government spending competition has increased in fluctuations,and the intensity of local government spending competition in eastern cities is lower than that in central and western cities.In addition,the overall green development level in China is low,and the green development level of eastern cities is higher than that of central and western cities.Second,local government spending competition has a significant inhibitory effect on green development,and this effect has obvious regional heterogeneity,specifically,the inhibitory effect of local government spending competition on green development is significant in central cities,resource-based cities and non-low carbon pilot cities in China.Third,local government spending competition inhibits green development by reducing the intensity of environmental regulations.Fourth,there is a threshold effect of local government expenditure competition on green development,and the effect of local government expenditure competition on green development shifts from inhibiting to promoting only when the level of economic development and science and technology innovation exceeds the threshold.Fifth,there is a positive spatial autocorrelation characteristic of green development,and local government expenditure competition has a spatial spillover effect on green development.In other words,local local government expenditure competition will not only inhibit local green development,but also inhibit green development in neighboring areas.In summary,this paper studies the mechanism of local government expenditure competition affecting green development,which is important for local governments to adjust their competitive behavior,improve the green development environment and promote highquality economic development. |
