Case Studies of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Chengdu-Chongqing Region and Northeastern Region
This paper completes the heterogeneity test of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Chengdu-Chongqing Region, and the Northeastern Region with the Spatial Measurement Model.
As shown in
Table 9, in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the main regression coefficient and the direct effect of green-technology innovation prove significantly negative; yet, in the Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the indirect effect of green-technology innovation proves insignificant. In the Northeastern Region, the main regression coefficient and the direct effect of green-technology innovation prove positive and insignificant, and the indirect effect of green-technology innovation proves negative and insignificant. In the Chengdu-Chongqing Region, the main regression coefficient of green-technology innovation proves negative and insignificant, and the direct effect and indirect effect of green-technology innovation prove negative and significant.
In the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the main regression coefficient and the direct effect of green-technology innovation prove significantly negative. This is mainly because the Yangtze River Delta, which covers Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, boasts advanced economic development, with a high level of economic openness. The development level of a green economy in the Yangtze River Delta is higher than that in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and Northeastern Region. Shanghai and Zhejiang have taken the lead in green-technology innovation in China. The industrial structure of Shanghai is dominated by the tertiary industry, which emits fewer industrial pollutants. Compared with Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, Shanghai invests the most capital for the treatment of environmental pollution. Therefore, Shanghai plays a decisive role in promoting the level of green-technology innovation in the Yangtze River Delta. Noticeably, in 2018, to accelerate the construction of a complete local legal system for environmental protection, Shanghai revised local laws and regulations such as The Regulations for the Prevention & Control of Atmospheric Pollution in Shanghai, which mitigates atmospheric environmental pollution to a certain extent. Zhejiang rapidly improves the level of Internet information, and Hangzhou becomes a major base for new media culture in China. Zhejiang and Jiangsu vigorously develop the secondary industry and introduce many industrial products; however, the spatial spillover effect of green-technology innovation can effectively reduce atmospheric environmental pollution. Meanwhile, in the Yangtze River Delta, residents embody a high educational level, and the investment to scientific research proves sufficient, which raises the regional technological level and promotes the development of green-technology innovation. Green-technology innovation in the Yangtze River Delta produces a spatial spillover effect, which effectively drives the development of relatively backward cities in the region, improves the level of green-technology innovation in the region and its neighboring regions, and reduces the impact on atmospheric environmental pollution. Vis-à-vis the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta sees faster economic development and enjoys better air quality than the Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region. The development of high-tech enterprises in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, and other cities significantly heightens regional green productivity, and achieves remarkable results in the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. Scientific and technological innovation serves as a major driving force for high-quality economic growth. Moreover, there are many coastal cities in the Pearl River Delta, where air quality is better than the interior region. The amount of wind and rainfall is also an important factor that reduces local atmospheric environmental pollution. However, there are numerous high-tech enterprises and high-end manufacturing industries as well as traditional manufacturing industries in the Pearl River Delta, which restricts the spillover effect of green-technology innovation. Developing cities may not actively learn from developed cities in green-technology innovation, and green-technology innovation plays an insignificant role in reducing the atmospheric environmental pollution in neighboring regions. Covering Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region suffers the most serious atmospheric environmental pollution in China. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region mainly adopts the development model of an extensive industry that features high energy consumption, high pollution, and high input. Compared with the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region has fewer high-tech industries, especially in Hebei. As a circum-capital urban cluster, the industrial structure and economic development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei are subject to governmental policies. In the 21st century, the development of Beijing and Tianjin relies on support from neighboring cities. With the best geographical location, Hebei undertakes the industrial transfer from Beijing and Tianjin. Furthermore, Hebei possesses abundant mineral resources and supports the development of Beijing and Tianjin, which exacerbates atmospheric environmental pollution in Hebei. Simultaneously, extensive industries near Beijing are successively shut down, and the emission of pollutants decreases accordingly. This happens later in Tianjin and Hebei, so atmospheric environmental pollution in Hebei remains serious. Located in the Circum-Bohai Sea Economic Zone, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region has high-level openness and introduces more green technologies. Enterprises in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei exchange ideas on green technology, which makes green technology mature and alleviates local atmospheric environmental pollution. Yet, neighboring regions of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region attach less attention to green-technology innovation. The Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta see rapid economic development and great progress in green-technology innovation. In contrast, in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, green-technology innovation remains at a low level, which limits the learning effect in neighboring regions. In other words, green-technology innovation plays a minor role in attenuating atmospheric environmental pollution in neighboring regions. As a result, the coefficient of green-technology innovation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region proves insignificant.
Different from the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Northeastern Region and Chengdu-Chongqing Region see an insignificant spatial effect. Firstly, in the Northeastern Region, the main regression coefficient and the direct effect prove positive and insignificant, and the indirect effect proves negative and insignificant. This is because in economic development, the Northeastern Region lags far behind the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, and the Chengdu-Chongqing Region. The Northeastern Region includes Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces as well as three cities and one league of Inner Mongolia. With a low level of green-technology innovation, the Northeastern Region is beset with a high proportion of brain drain, high-level talents, and technological backbone in particular. Owing to the unsatisfactory policy environment in the Northeastern Region, the adequacy rates of talent and technology remain low. The Northeastern Region functions as the “granary” of China. In agriculture, it focuses on traditional farming and stockbreeding that make low demands on green-technology innovation. In the Northeastern Region, the economy develops slowly, green-technology innovation remains at a low level, and many high-level talents leave. Simultaneously, there is a great quantity of industrial enterprises. Therefore, in the Northeastern Region, green-technology innovation plays a minor role in reducing the emission of pollutants from industrial enterprises and mitigating atmospheric environmental pollution. The main regression coefficient and the direct effect prove positive and insignificant. In spite of this, the learning effect of green-technology innovation allows neighboring regions to introduce green-technology innovation, which reaches a low level yet has an inhibitory impact on neighboring regions. In contrast, in the Chengdu-Chongqing Region, the main regression coefficient of green-technology innovation proves negative yet insignificant, and the direct effect and indirect effect of green-technology innovation prove significantly negative. This is because the Chengdu-Chongqing Region forges the most developed economy in western China and forms a major urban belt in China. In terms of the overall level of green-technology innovation, the Chengdu-Chongqing Region rivals the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region. However, the level of scientific and technological innovation in various cities in the Chengdu-Chongqing Region is significantly polarized. In Chengdu and Chongqing, there are more scientific research institutes, high-tech enterprises, and R and D investment to scientific and technological innovation than in other cities in the region, with a significantly higher level of scientific and technological innovation. The low level of scientific and technological innovation in other cities has an adverse effect on the overall level in the region. Most cities in the Chengdu-Chongqing Region stand in the Sichuan Basin, with unique geographical conditions. Atmospheric pollution arises from complex causes or seasonal factors, which makes it hard to improve the atmospheric environment. Moreover, in the Chengdu-Chongqing Region, atmospheric environmental pollution embodies high spatial correlation. Chongqing enjoys better air quality. Therefore, in the region, the main regression coefficients of green-technology innovation and atmospheric environmental pollution prove insignificant. Conspicuously, the level of green-technology innovation constantly increases, and the funds for green-technology innovation continuously enlarge. With more attention given to green-technology innovation, the scale effect of green-technology innovation alleviates atmospheric environmental pollution in the Chengdu-Chongqing Region. Simultaneously, neighboring regions continue to learn from green-technology innovation in the Chengdu-Chongqing Region, which weakens atmospheric environment pollution in the neighboring regions.
As the above analysis suggests, there are obvious differences in the level of green-technology innovation, the investment to R and D, the level of economic development, geographical location, and air quality among the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Northeastern Region, and the Chengdu-Chongqing Region. Therefore, the degree of atmospheric environmental pollution in these regions varies, with significant heterogenicity in the impact of green-technology innovation on atmospheric environmental pollution.