Research On The Function Route And Effect Of Environmental Regulation On Regional Industrial Structure Optimization

Under the background of the new normal economy,China’s economy is going through an important strategic period of supply-side structural reform and structural transformation.The conflict between the old and new growth pattern is fierce,and the contradiction between economic growth and environment protection is increasingly prominent.Environmental pollution has made the economy and the social well-being suffered a loss.A series of events,which endanger public health,have sparked a profound self-examination on the way of developing the economy at the expensive of sacrificing ecological environment.The industrial structure acts as bridges between economic activities and ecological environment.Environmental regulation is increasingly important to industrial structure optimization and environmental protection,attractting more attention in the new stage of improving the quality and effectiveness of the economy.Firstly,this dissertation defines the core concepts of “environmental regulation”and “industrial structure optimization”.The construction of industrial structure optimization index comprehensively considers two factors: rationalization and upgrading of industrial structure.This dissertation reviews the classical principles of environmental economics and industrial structure economics,systematically expounds the relevant domestic and foreign research results,combs and analyses the evolution process and development status of China’s environmental regulation and industrial structure,all of which provide theoretical support and practical basis for follow-up research.To discuss the path and effect of environmental regulation on regional industrial structure optimization,panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2002 to2017 were used as research samples.This dissertation explores the role-path and transmission mechanism of environmental regulation on industrial structure optimization through theoretical deduction and intermediary effect model.What’s more,to compensate for the errors caused by neglecting heterogeneity and spatial spillover effect in existing studies,this study uses generalized matrix estimation,generalized least squares method and spatial Durbin model to explore the effect of environmental regulation on industrial structure optimization from four aspects:heterogeneity of environmental regulation tools,industry heterogeneity,institutional heterogeneity and spatial spillover effect.The results are as follows.Environmental regulation can affect industrial structure optimization through technological innovation,financial development,investment demand,foreign direct investment and foreign trade path,but not through enterprise entry,factor aggregation and energy consumption path.The effect of environmental regulation on industrial structure optimization is significantly affected by the heterogeneity of environmental regulation tools,industries and institutions,showing a non-linear feature.There are significant differences in the effects of commander-control,market,information disclosure-public participation environmental regulation on industrial structure optimization.The effects of pollution-intensive industries and cleaner production industries in different regions are different.Environmental regulation has a significant positive spatial spillover effect on industrial structure optimization.The neglect of spatial spillover effect will lead to the underestimation of the impact of environmental regulation on industrial structure optimization.Based on the above conclusions,this dissertation puts forward targeted policy suggestions to provide a scientific basis for the formulation of environmental regulation policies.Effective environmental regulation policy is conducive to promoting industrial structure optimization,promoting economic growth and environmental load decoupling,and achieving mutual benefit and win-win of economic development and ecological environment.