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Environmental regulation, import trade, and green technology innovation

  • Research in Environmental Governance and Innovation
  • Published:
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Abstract

To further clarify the relationship between environmental regulation and green technology innovation and discuss how environmental regulation affects green technology innovation through import trade, this paper analyzes the impacts of environmental regulation and import trade on green technology innovation and the transmission effect of import trade based on panel data for 30 provinces in China for 2008 to 2017. The results show that (1) environmental regulation first plays a role in promoting green technology innovation and then restrains it, and import trade can significantly promote green technology innovation; (2) under the constraints of stronger environmental regulations, import trade has a significantly positive effect on green technology innovation; and (3) environmental regulation can further enhance the technology spillover effects of import trade in regions with high absorptive capacity and regions with high levels of R&D investment. This paper analyzes the impact of environmental regulation on green technology innovation from the perspective of import trade and makes up for the deficiencies of existing research. It also lays a foundation for scholars to study the relationship between environmental regulation and green technology innovation in the midst of heterogeneous government regulation capabilities and industries in the future.

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Notes

  1. Data from the 2007–2018 China Environment Statistical Yearbook.

  2. Data source: analysis on the development of China’s environmental protection industry in 2017.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 611756, Sichuan, China

    Lina Shang & Deqing Tan

  2. School of Business, University of Jinan, Jinan, 250022, Shandong, China

    Suling Feng

  3. Shandong Collaborative Innovation Center for Capital Market Innovation and Development, University of Jinan, Jinan, 250022, Shandong, China

    Suling Feng

  4. School of Public Economics and Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Wenting Zhou

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  1. Lina Shang
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  2. Deqing Tan
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  3. Suling Feng
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  4. Wenting Zhou
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Contributions

LS and SF carried out the model analyses and contributed to the writing of the paper. DT contributed to the collection of data and reviewed the literature. WZ reviewed the literature.

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Correspondence to Suling Feng.

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Highlights

Green technology innovation is essential to reducing the pollution emissions of enterprises.

Environmental regulation first plays a role in promoting green technology innovation and then restrains it.

Under constraints of stronger environmental regulation, import trade has a significantly positive effect on green technology innovation.

Environmental regulation can further enhance the technology spillover effect of import trade in high absorptive capacity regions and high R&D investment regions

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Shang, L., Tan, D., Feng, S. et al. Environmental regulation, import trade, and green technology innovation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 12864–12874 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13490-9

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