A Study On The Factors Influencing The Attention Of Local Governments To Environmental Protection Policies

As the leader in China’s economic ranking,Guangdong Province faces the dual pressures of rapid economic development and ecological environment protection.The local government needs to strike a balance between economic growth and environmental protection.However,under the background of political centralization and fiscal decentralization,local governments may be influenced by high-pressure supervision,financial discretion and promotion pressure from the central government,which leads to neglect of local ecological environment development.Based on this,this paper,supported by the theory of the administrative contract system and the political tournament,makes a text analysis of the 2011-2019 government work reports of all the cities in Guangdong province,using computer Phython software to extract terms related to ecological environment and economic development,and collating the time when the central environmental protection inspection group was stationed in Guangdong,the total value of its revenue and expenditure,and the age of the chief executive from 2011 to 2019,three hypotheses are proposed:(1)As long as the central environmental inspection team is stationed,the higher the ecological and environmental attention of local governments;(2)If the level of local fiscal deficit is lower,which means that the greater the fiscal autonomy,the local government will pay more attention to the ecological environment;(3)Local governments pay more attention to the ecological environment if the distance from the mandatory retirement age means less pressure for promotion.The results show that there is a positive correlation between the degree of environmental supervision and the attention of ecological environment,and a negative correlation between the fiscal deficit and the attention of environmental protection policy,the difference between the post age and retirement age of the chief executive is positively related to the ecological environment attention of local governments.In addition,the environmental protection expenditure and fiscal revenue of various cities in Guangdong province will affect the attention of local governments on environmental protection policies,however,the economic growth rate,the number of industrial enterprises,the development of industrial industries and the attention of employees to the government’s environmental protection policy are uncertain.Overall,local governments’ attention to environmental policy is influenced by a number of factors.In order to improve the environmental governance level of Guangdong provincial municipal governments,we should consider the strength of central environmental inspection,local financial autonomy and promotion pressure of chief executive.Therefore,higher-level governments need to carry out environmental monitoring and control measures on the expenditure of lower-level governments,and pay more attention to the ecological and environmental performance in the performance assessment of officials,to promote local governments to pay attention to the ecological environment governance.