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Will green finance promote green development: based on the threshold effect of R&D investment

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Abstract

Deeply understanding the driving effect of green finance on green development is of great significance to promote economic transformation and realize the long-term green development. This paper uses the entropy method and undesirable-SE-SBM model to measure provincial green finance and green development efficiency respectively from 2008 to 2018. And based on the above, the panel threshold model is constructed to discuss the nonlinear relationship between green finance and green development efficiency from the first empirical verification. The results show that ① the impact of green finance on green development has a significant single threshold effect, only when R&D investment crosses 2.810 can green finance significantly promote green development efficiency, and before that, it will suppress green development efficiency. ②At present, a few provinces in China have crossed the threshold value of R&D investment, only including Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, while the R&D investment of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Guangdong gradually approaches the threshold value. Therefore, improving the construction of the green financial system, correctly guiding the direction of green capital investment, and strengthening the supervision of environmental information disclosure are important.

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Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71673117 and 72004082).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Jijian Zhang, Fengqin Li & Xuhui Ding

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  1. Jijian Zhang
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  2. Fengqin Li
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  3. Xuhui Ding
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Contributions

Jijian Zhang conceived the idea and wrote the original draft. Fengqin Li constructed the model and wrote this paper. Xuhui Ding collected and collated data.

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Correspondence to Fengqin Li.

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Zhang, J., Li, F. & Ding, X. Will green finance promote green development: based on the threshold effect of R&D investment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 60232–60243 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20161-w

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