Research On The Impact Of Government Environmental Protection Spending On Green Technology Innovation

At present,China’s economy is in a critical period of transition.In order to achieve intensive economic growth during the transition period,technology innovation is indispensable,especially green technology innovation that is green-oriented.However,green technology,as an important technology that can reduce energy consumption,reduce pollution and protect the environment,cannot promote its rapid development only by relying on social spontaneous capital and the power of the public.Therefore,appropriate government intervention is required to solve the problem of "market failure" in green technology innovation,and government environmental protection expenditures has become an important policy choice for promoting green technology innovation.However,government behavior is a double-edged sword.How to evaluate the role of government environmental protection expenditures in green technology innovation,so as to provide theoretical guidance and policy support for better use of government fiscal expenditures,is an important practical issue that needs to be studied.Based on sorting out related theories such as public products,fiscal decentralization and technological innovation,and systematically combing the direct impact of government environmental protection expenditures on green technology innovation and the threshold effect mechanism,this paper uses 30 provinces panel data from 2007 to 2018 to investigate the impact of government environmental protection expenditures on green technology innovation.Firstly,this paper conducts a unit root test on the panel data at the provincial level.If the data is stable,the paper directly conduct regression analysis to test the direct impact of government environmental protection expenditures on green technological innovation.Then,the paper uses the empirical method of panel threshold estimation to analyze the possible non-linear impact of government environmental protection expenditure on green technology innovation.Finally,this paper also tests the robustness of the measurement results by replacing the measurement indicators of green technological innovation.The research results found that:(1)Government environmental protection expenditures promote green technological innovation and have passed the robustness test.(2)Government environmental protection expenditures have significant fiscal decentralization and economic growth threshold effects on green technology innovation;when the degree of fiscal decentralization is high,government environmental protection expenditures can effectively improve the level of green technology innovation,and vice versa.Similarly,when the level of local economic development is high,government environmental protection expenditure can significantly promote the improvement of the level of green technology innovation.This conclusion also passed the robustness test.Based on the research conclusions,this article proposes the following policy recommendations: local governments should establish and improve environmental protection fiscal systems to increase the importance of environmental protection expenditures in public expenditures.At the same time,appropriately increase the degree of fiscal decentralization,ease the financial pressure of local governments,give more financial incentives,concentrate more financial resources on public services such as the public environment and social security,and stimulate local governments to promote green technology progress.Localities should increase public participation in environmental protection through economic development,vigorously promote green new products,and cultivate the public’s awareness of green environmental protection.