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Have public environmental appeals inspired green total factor productivity? empirical evidence from Baidu Environmental Search Index

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A Correction to this article was published on 09 December 2022

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Abstract

Literatures focus on whether formal environmental regulatory policies can effectively stimulate green total factor productivity (GTFP), but generally ignore the role of informal institutions such as public environmental appeals. This paper uses inter-provincial panel data and Non-Radial Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model to measure GTFP. With the Baidu Environmental Search Index presenting the public environmental appeals, the dynamic panel System Generalized Method of Moments (SYS-GMM) and Differenced Generalized Method of Moments (DIFF-GMM) methods are used to explore the effect, transmission mechanism and conditions of the public’s environmental demands on green total factor productivity. The study concludes that public environmental appeals are beneficial to improve GTFP, and this result still holds after endogenous and robustness tests. The mechanism results show that the green technology innovation effect is an important mechanism for public environmental appeals to improve GTFP. In addition, public environmental appeals of different pollutants and different locations have heterogeneous effects on GTFP. In addition, the public wealth level, human capital level, and government institutional environment play an important role in the impact of public environmental appeals on GTFP.

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Funding

The paper is supported by China National Natural Science Fund (71573088), Key Foundation of China National Social Science (17AZD009), Shanxi Provincial Program of Philosophy and Social Sciences(2022YD080) and Key Program of Shanxi Federation of Social Sciences(SSKLZDKT2022067).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business and Management, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China

    Linhui Wang

  2. School of Management, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210003, China

    Bei Liu

  3. School of Statistics, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan, 030006, China

    Yongda He

  4. School of Economics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Zhiqing Dong

  5. School of Statistics, Jilin University of Finance and Economics, Changchun, 130117, China

    Shixiang Wang

Authors
  1. Linhui Wang
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  2. Bei Liu
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  3. Yongda He
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Contributions

Linhui Wang: Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Writing-review and editing.

Bei Liu: Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Writing-original draft, Software.

Yongda He: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Writing-review and editing.

Zhiqing Dong: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Project administration, Writing-original draft, Funding acquisition.

Shixiang Wang: Data curation, Writing-review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yongda He.

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We certify that the manuscript titled “Have public environmental appeals inspired green total factor productivity? Empirical evidence from Baidu Environmental Search Index” (hereinafter referred to as “the Paper”) has been entirely our original work except otherwise indicated, and it does not infringe the copyright of any third party. The submission of the Paper to Environmental Science and Pollution Research implies that the Paper has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as a part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors, and that, if accepted, will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. Copyrights for articles published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research are retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

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Bei Liu, Zhiqing Dong, and Shixiang Wang are considered as equally contributing first author.

The original online version of this article was revised: The correct affiliation of the 4th and 5th author is modified in the published proof.

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Wang, L., Liu, B., He, Y. et al. Have public environmental appeals inspired green total factor productivity? empirical evidence from Baidu Environmental Search Index. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 30237–30252 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23993-8

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