Study On Environmental Pollution Effect Of Market Segmentation

Environmental pollution has the characteristics of spatial spillover and quasi-public goods,which makes the impact of environmental pollution no longer confined to a single area,and the process of environmental pollution among different regions shows synchronicity and cross-cutting,and the cross-border pollution.Besides,the non-exclusive and non-competitive nature of public goods also makes it impossible to clearly define the property rights of environmental pollutants,which will lead to the formation of“free-rider”incentives for local governments in environmental pollution goverance.Therefore,strengthening the cooperation among local governments in environmental pollution governance and carrying out the regional collaborative governance has become a widespread consensus of society.However,in a transitional economy like China under the parallel system of fiscal decentralization and administrative centralization,the market segmentation formed by local governments to protect local economic growth not only leads to increasingly serious environmental pollution,but also hinders the regional collaborative governance of environmental pollution among local governments.Therefore,under the background of high-quality economic development and“not only silver and gold,but also green water and mountain”,how to break the regional market segmentation more effectively and realize the“win-win”situation of economic growth and environmental pollution has become a key issue to be solved urgently.This study focuses on the relationship between market segmentation and environmental pollution,and aimes at exploring the following three key issues:Firstly,whether market segmentation among local governments has promoted the motivation of enterprise pollution emissions,that is,does market segmentation has a significant impact on environmental pollution?And what is the impact mechanism?Secondly,the“fragmentation”development mode caused by market segmentation hinders the communication and cooperation among local governments,and does it significantly affect the regional collaborative governance of environmental pollution among local governments?Thirdly,facing with the high-quality economic development and the dual responsibility constraints of local governments in economic growth and environmental governance,can economic growth and environmental governance under market segmentation achieve a win-win situation?And does market segmentation inhibit green economic growth?After reviewing the basic theories and previous research literatures systematically,we discuss the strategic choices of local governments under decentralization and construct an analysis framework,and examine the internal mechanism of market segmentation affecting environmental pollution from scale change,structural transformation and technological progress;Besides,this study also construct a dynamic game model to analyze the internal logic of regional collaborative governance of environmental pollution;and examine the internal relationship between market segmentation and green economic growth.Moreover,the Dynamic Spatial Panel Durbin Model is used to empirically analyze the impact of market segmentation on environmental pollution,regional collaborative governance of environmental pollution and green economic growth.The main conclusions of this study are as following:（1）Market segmentation has significantly aggravated environmental pollution.As far as the results of the impact mechanism are concerned,market segmentation has restrained the expansion of the regional economic scale,the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure and the technological progress of enterprises,which can also have a significant impact on environmental pollution in the short and long term.This shows that the mechanism of scale change,structural transformation and technological progress of market segmentation affecting environmental pollution are existent.The effects of market segmentation on the pollutants with low spillover,such as wastewater and solid waste,are not significant,while the effects on the pollutants with strong spillover,such as sulfur dioxide（SO₂）,smoke&powder dust and PM_2.5,are significantly positive.Moreover,market segmentation has a significant deteriorating effect on environmental pollution during 2002-2007,but in 2008-2015,the relationship between market segmentation and environmental pollution is not significant because of the low degree of market segmentation in China.（2）Although there is a certain synergistic trend in environmental pollution goverance in China during the study period,the overall level is relatively low.Market segmentation among local governments significantly inhibits the local governments’regional collaborative governance around environmental pollution.The impact of market segmentation on regional collaborative governance of environmental pollution also has the heterogeneity characteristics of different pollutants,that is,the effect of market segmentation is not significant in the short and long term for areas with serious pollution of wastewater and solid waste.But in the areas with serious pollution of SO₂,smoke&powder dust,PM_2.5,the effects are significantly.For different collaborative governance inputs,the effects of market segmentation on the personnel input and capital input are not significant,while for the policy input and organization input,the effects are significantly negative in the short and long term.And the effect of market segmentation on the regional collabortive governance of environmental pollution only reflected in the period of 2002-2007.（3）During the investigation period,China’s green total factor productivity showed a decline on the whole.Market segmentation also significantly aggravate the environmental pollution in the process of restraining regional economic growth,thus directly restraining the green economic growth.The market segmentation among local governments have significantly inhibited the efficiency improvement effect,and the invention of various clean technologies and advanced production technologies,which verifies that market segmentation has two paths of efficiency improvement and technological progress in influencing the green economic growth.As far as the time heterogeneity is concerned,the effect of market segmentation is still mainly reflected in 2002-2007,while the relationship between market segmentation and green economic growth is insignificant during 2008-2015.Based on the above conclusions,this study put forward some suggestions and optimization measures,such as eliminate local protectionism,promote regional market integration,improve regional economic scale with higher quality,promote the optimization and adjustment of industrial structure,accelerate enterprise R&D and technological progress,strengthen regional colloborative governance around environmental pollution,and realize the“win-win”situation of economic growth and environmental protection.The conclusions of this study provide useful inspiration for further optimizing the relationship between local governments,enhencing regional market integration and regional coordinated development,improving the environmental quality,and further promoting the high-quality development of China’s economy.