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Copyright of China Population Resources & Environment is the property of Shandong Normal University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of China Population Resources & Environment is the property of Shandong Normal University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of China Population Resources & Environment is the property of Shandong Normal University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

China' s economy is in the midst of a crucial transition from high-speed growth to high-quality development. Strengthening the rigid constraint of water resources and curbing the disorderly expansion of high water-consuming enterprises are crucial to alleviating structural overcapacity and realizing economic development transformation from a resource-driven to an innovation-driven mode. Based on the data of A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2021, this paper explored the impact of the water resource 'fee-to-tax' policy on the over-investment of high water-consuming enterprises from the perspectives of free cash flow and technological innovation. The research results showed that levying a water resource tax could significantly inhibit the over-investment of high water-consuming enterprises, and the conclusion was still robust after a series of robustness tests (the parallel trend test, the placebo test, the PSM-DID, changing the measurement method of explained variables, excluding other policy influences, and the instrumental variable test). The mechanism analysis showed that levying a water resource tax could restrain over-investment by reducing the free cash flow of high water-consuming enterprises and stimulating technological innovation. At the same time, the restraining effect of water resource taxes on excessive investment in high water-consuming enterprises was more obvious in state-owned enterprises, enterprises with higher financing constraints, and those with higher water intensity. Based on the above conclusions, this paper holds that the water resource 'fee-to-tax' policy should be continuously improved, and the incentive mechanism of water resource tax should be improved while increasing the promotion of water consumption monitoring equipment. The flexibility of policy implementation should be strengthened, and different strategies should be adopted to guide high water-consuming enterprises with different operating conditions and investment cycles to change their production methods and investment behaviors. To implement the policy of 'giving priority to saving water' systematically, we should not only strengthen the water-saving supervision, but also raise the awareness of water users to save water voluntarily. By exploring the impact of water resource tax on the over-investment of high water-consuming enterprises, this paper attempts to deepen the understanding of the water resource 'fee-to-tax' policy, enrich the relevant literature in the field of resource regulation research, and provide a policy reference for realizing the coordinated development of economy, society, and resource carrying capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promotion policies of the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry have evolved over time along with its rapid development in China. The NEV market has advanced to a new level where it complies with international practices and fully accommodates competition. Studying the market implications of the NEV promotion policy adjustment is of significant theoretical and practical value given the subsidy withdrawal, technological advancement, and sales growth. Based on interrupted time series analysis, this paper used 60 monthly time points from January 2017 to December 2021 to construct a time-series data set. Taking promotion policy adjustment as a policy variable, this paper estimated the market effect disparities of promotion policies in major cities in China through counterfactual analysis, and the special phenomenon of NEV sales climbing caused by subsidy withdrawal was further analyzed. Furthermore, the study findings were verified by robustness and heterogeneity tests. The result showed that: 1 After several adjustments, the national NEV promotion policy achieved remarkable results in the first-tier and new first-tier cities and other developed areas in general. 2 The key factor to promote the NEV market was technological advancement, and the essence of subsidy withdrawal was to promote more rapid technological innovation among relevant enterprises by raising the threshold of subsidy technology and eliminating backward production capacity. It was the subsidy withdrawal that led to sales growth. 3 The policy of relaxing curbs on NEV purchases failed to significantly promote the sales of NEVs and did not seem to be unsustainable, so it should not be regarded as a key promotion policy in the future. It is suggested that the pertinent departments shift their promotion policies in favor of the user side, increase investment in NEV technology research and development, accelerate the elimination of backward production capacity through policies and regulations, adjust the license number plate support policy for new energy vehicles in due course, and further improve the double-credit policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low-carbon city pilot policy is an important way to promote corporate green innovation, and it is also an inevitable choice to achieve the goals of achieving peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. However, existing research on the impact of the low-carbon city pilot policy on green innovation lacks depth, and literature focusing on micro-corporate level is insufficient. Therefore, it is difficult to provide an effective reference for corporate green transformation. Based on the panel data of 936 A-share listed companies in China from 2007 to 2020, this paper took the low-carbon city pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment. The multistage dynamic difference-in-differences model and difference-in-difference-in-differences model were used to explore the impact of the low-carbon city pilot policy on corporate green innovation and its heterogeneity in terms of enterprise size, property rights, and carbon emission industry. Furthermore, from the perspective of environmental responsibility and talent agglomeration, this paper discussed the transmission mechanism of this policy to promote corporate green innovation and determined the optimal path for the low-carbon city pilot policy to take. The research results showed that: ① The low-carbon city pilot policy effectively promoted corporate green innovation in the pilot areas. Compared with the green utility model patent innovation, the pilot policy had a more significant impact on green invention patent innovation. A series of robustness tests such as PSM-DID and the placebo test found that the conclusion was still valid. ② The impact of the low-carbon city pilot policy on green innovation presented heterogeneity in terms of enterprise size, property rights, and carbon emission industry. This policy had a more significant policy impact on large-scale enterprises, and only had a positive impact on the utility model patent of state-owned enterprises but had a significant positive impact on the green innovation of non-state-owned enterprises to varying degrees. The low-carbon city pilot policy had a significant positive impact on the green innovation of enterprises in high-carbon industries but had a certain inhibitory effect on the green innovation of enterprises in low-carbon industries. ③ The main transmission mechanism of the low-carbon city pilot policy on the promotion of corporate green innovation was that the pilot policy enhanced the awareness of the environmental responsibility of enterprises by strengthening their management of environmental information disclosure, improving the level of their environmental protection investment, providing government support for their environmental protection, and inducing the effect of talent agglomeration by attracting talented people seeking employment and those who graduated from local universities as well as high-tech talents from enterprises. From the perspective of the transmission path effect, environmental responsibility played a greater role, followed by talent agglomeration. Therefore, the government should keep on expanding the scope of the lowcarbon pilot policy, give more financial and policy support to small and medium-sized technological private enterprises and green environmental protection enterprises, promote the shareholding system reform, mergers, and reorganization of state-owned enterprises, and provide sustainable environmental regulation and assistance to high-carbon emission enterprises. They should also continuously enhance enterprises' environmental responsibility awareness and promote the effect of talent agglomeration to improve the level of green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategic deployment of building a comprehensive socialist modern state has put forward new requirements for the green and low-carbon transformation of China's economic and social development. As the core subject of promoting this process, the incentive mechanism for enterprises to practice environmental protection and emission reduction and take on green responsibilities has become a hot topic of social and academic attention. This paper examined the impact of the implementation of the low-carbon city pilot policy on the quality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) of listed companies using the staggered difference-in-differences model based on microdata of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2021 as a representative low carbon transition policy and a quasi-natural experiment. The findings were as follows: 1 The low-carbon city pilot policy implemented in China since 2010 significantly improved the ESG quality of listed companies. The policy resulted in an average increase of 27.42% in the ESG index of listed companies in pilot cities. This result held after a series of robustness tests, including controlling for other policy interferences, propensity score matching, and placebo tests. 2 Under the influence of this policy, pressure from government regulation and public opinion supervision became a crucial driver for companies to autonomously enhance their ESG quality. 3 Green financial support helped alleviate corporate financing constraints and promoted green technological innovation, serving as an important mechanism for improving corporate ESG quality under the low-carbon transformation policy. Among these mechanisms, green technological innovation exhibited a trend toward both quantity and quality improvement. Innovation in energy-saving green technologies played a more significant role in enhancing corporate ESG quality in the context of the low-carbon city pilot policy. This study demonstrates that China's low-carbon city pilot policy not only promoted regional green and low-carbon transformation at the macro level but also encouraged enterprises to embrace the concept of low-carbon transformation and undertake responsibilities for sustainable and green development at the micro level. While enriching and supplementing the research on factors influencing corporate ESG quality, this study also provides theoretical and decision-making support for China's achievement of its 'dual carbon' goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the effects of expected economic growth targets and environmental constraint targets set by Chinese local governments at the beginning of the year on high-quality development can provide empirical evidence for optimizing expected target management, improving macro-control, and fulfilling governance efficiency in the new development stage to some extent. Therefore, based on the theory of economic growth accounting and the stochastic frontier model, this paper calculated the level of high-quality development at the urban level, extracted the economic growth targets and environmental constraint targets from the Report on the Work of the Government with text analysis, constructed instrumental variables based on the spatial weight matrix, and then discussed the effects of the expected development targets formulated by local governments on high-quality development, conditional heterogeneity, and mechanisms. The results showed that: ① Excessive economic growth targets were not conducive to high-quality development, while environmental constraints targets had a significant role in promoting it and could slow down the erosion effect of excessive economic growth targets on high-quality development. This conclusion still held after solving a series of robustness tests, such as the endogenous bias. ② Heterogeneity analysis found that, with the implementation of the ecological civilization concept, China' s economy could achieve a win-win situation of quantity increase and quality improvement. To better promote high-quality development, the target positioning of cities with good economic foundations should weaken economic increment and strengthen environmental constraints, and the growth targets and environmental constraints set by local governments should be endogenous to their own regional resource endowments and leave appropriate elastic spaces. ③ The mechanism test showed that improving the economic growth targets reduced the level of innovation and raised the amount of new investment in the region, which was not conducive to high-quality development. Environmental constraints could promote technological innovation and limit the blind expansion of new investment, thus promoting high-quality development. Based on the above research conclusions, this paper summarizes policy implications from the aspects of political performance evaluation, formulation of expected development targets, technological innovation, and green development to promote the synergy between economic growth and green development in China and the synchronization of expected target management and high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Population Resources & Environment is the property of Shandong Normal University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of China Population Resources & Environment is the property of Shandong Normal University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Water is the lifeblood of agriculture. Different from land resources, water resources can flow across regions. Based on the perspective of ‘physical water and virtual water’ flow and using the panel data of 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China from 2004 to 2020, this paper used the dynamic spatial Durbin model to estimate the impact of regional grain trade on the pro⁃ portion of grain planting and that of rice, wheat, and corn in the context of inter-basin water transfer. The results showed that: ① For grain output areas, the impact of ‘physical water and virtual water’ flow decreased, the overall proportion of grain planting increased, and the proportion of corn planting among the grains decreased. It showed that the increase of water resource pressure in grain output areas played a greater role in promoting the induced technological change of grain production and strengthening the regional production division than limiting them, and there was a ‘paradox of irrigation efficiency’, that is, the progress of water-saving technology led to the increase of high water consumption crops. ② For grain input areas, the impact of ‘physical water and virtual water’ flow increased, the proportion of grain planting decreased, the proportion of short-term rice and corn planting increased, the proportion of rice (high water consumption crop) planting increased more, the proportion of long-term rice and corn planting decreased, and the proportion of corn (low water consumption crop) planting decreased more. It showed that the regional division of labor and strengthening of grain production reduced the proportion of grain planting in grain input areas, but the internal structure of grain was developing in the direction of more water consumption. ③ Under the current ‘physical water and virtual water’ flow, the grain input areas had a negative spatial spill⁃ over effect on the grain planting proportion in the output areas and the corn planting proportion among the grains, which showed that the reduction of water resource pressure in the grain input areas had a negative impact on the grain production in the grain output areas, and intensified the phenomenon of ‘paradox of irrigation efficiency’ in the internal structure of grain. The grain output areas had no significant impact on the grain planting proportion in the grain input areas. In the short term, the planting proportion of rice and corn was reduced, and the planting proportion of rice, a high water consuming crop, was reduced more, the planting proportion of rice and corn increased in the long term, and the planting proportion of corn, a low water consuming crop, increased more, indicating that the grain out⁃ put areas promoted the development of the internal structure of grain in the grain input areas in the direction of water saving. Finally, this paper puts forward the policy implications of implementing the overall management of ‘physical water and virtual water’, vigorously promoting the development of water-saving agriculture in grain output areas, and establishing regional grain virtual water compensation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China' s digital finance has developed rapidly, and its application scope continues to expand, which has a profound impact on people' s production and lifestyle and may affect carbon emissions. On the basis of a literature review, this paper firstly summarized the possible ways of impact of digital finance on carbon emissions and then illustrated the economic principles and impact mechanism of how digital finance affected carbon emissions by introducing digital finance and energy consumption into the production function and introducing the stock of carbon dioxide into the consumer utility function to improve Romer's endogenous economic growth model. The results of the theoretical analysis showed that the development of digital finance would affect carbon emissions by influencing the consumption concepts and behavior of residents, the mode of production activities, and the innovation efficiency of enterprises. Besides, the relationship between digital finance and carbon emissions represented an inverted U-shape, and the digital financial capacity required by the turning point of carbon emissions mainly depended on the existing energy consumption and technological innovation. Then, based on China' s provincial data, this paper analyzed the above inverted U-shape relationship empirically and tested the corresponding intermediary mechanism. The results showed that: (1) The impact of digital finance on carbon emissions could be decomposed into the effects of increasing production and those of saving energy. (2) Under the two comprehensive effects, carbon emissions increased first and then decreased with the development of digital finance, and this inverted U-shape relationship passed the endo-geneity and robustness tests. (3) There were significant structural differences in the impact of digital finance on carbon emissions in terms of breadth, depth, and degree of digitalization. (4) In addition, the results of the impact mechanism analysis also showed that the development of digital finance alleviated the pressure on the financing demand of enterprises, and the production scale under the traditional production mode was thus expanded and the carbon emissions increased, meaning that the impact brought by the development of digital finance was more reflected in the increase of carbon emissions with the expansion of output (yield increasing effect). However, as the development of digital finance deepened and digitalization played a cumulative role in the later stage, the innovation and emission reduction effects brought by the promotion of enterprise R&D and energy-saving technology patents significantly increased, which eventually led to the reduction of carbon emissions (energy saving effect) by reducing the carbon intensity. Based on this, the development of digital finance in China should shift from a mode emphasizing quantity to one emphasizing quality as soon as possible to provide precise support for the country' s low-carbon and energy-saving transformation, digital upgrading of enterprises, optimization of energy industry structures, new energy development and utilization, and continuous innovation of digital carbon financial products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China mentioned that China is facing tightening resource and environmental constraints, environmental pollution, and other issues, and the energy-consuming right trading policy is a key measure to promote green, circular, and low-carbon development in China. Under the dual consideration of ecological benefits and economic benefits, this paper took the pilot launch of energy-consuming trading as a quasi-natural experiment and used panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2009 to 2020 and the different-in-differences method to explore the impact of this policy on the optimization and upgrading of China's industrial structure. The study showed that: (J) The energy-consuming right trading policy could promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure, and the promotion effect on the upgrading of the industrial structure outweighed its adverse impact on the rationalization of the industrial structure, as evidenced by a series of robustness tests. © The mechanism analysis showed that the realization paths of industrial structure upgrading were the upgrading of technological innovation and that of energy consumption structure, and the policy suppressed the adverse impact on the rationalization of industrial structure by improving the input structure and output structure of some industrial sectors. © In addition, the pilot policy of energy-consuming rights had obvious regional heterogeneity for the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, which significantly promoted the upgrading of industrial structure in the central and western regions and the rationalization of industrial structure in the eastern regions. This study provides some policy references for the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure from the perspective of improving the energy-consuming right trading market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New urbanization plays an important role in China's regional economic growth and green transformation. In this stage of high-quality economic development, the effect of the government-led new urbanization policy on reducing pollution and carbon emissions needs to be verified. Based on the data of 180 prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2020, this paper built a difference-indifferences model from the two dimensions of ' pollution' and ' carbon emission' to empirically test the effect of the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions in new urbanization and its influencing mechanisms. The results showed that: (J) The new urbanization construction had a significant effect of reducing pollution and carbon emissions, which was characterized by its annual increase. The conclusion was still robust after validity and robustness tests. © Based on the ' location-feature-scale' dimensional urban heterogeneity, the effect of the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions was more significant in the samples of eastern cities, non-resource-based cities, cities with high human capital, and larger cities. Quantile estimation results showed that this effect in the new urbanization construction was increasing marginally. © Mechanism analysis showed that the new urbanization construction could not only directly promote the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions, but also effectively promote this reduction by fostering the overall upgrading of industrial structure, service structure, and performance-based technological innovation. However, the impact of input-based technological innovation on this reduction was not obvious. This article offers new ideas for the next stage of regional pollution control in China. It is suggested that the government should promote the synergy between the new urbanization and the reduction of pollution and carbon emissions and release the dividends of the new urbanization in regional green development in a more effective way with the help of industrial structure upgrading and performance-based technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Population Resources & Environment is the property of Shandong Normal University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Trade and the environment are two grave concerns of sustainable development in the new development pattern of the Chinese economy. Reducing corporate pollution intensity (CPI) is an essential means of securing economic sustainability, energy conservation, and emissions reduction, and participating in global value chains (GVCs) is a key driver of CPI reduction. Based on the elucidation of the mechanism by which GVC position affects CPI through technological innovation, this paper used the matching data of the enterprise pollution discharge database, the customs import and export database, the enterprise patent database, and the industrial enterprise database from 2000 to 2014 to empirically test the impact of GVC position on CPI. Furthermore, the robustness of the core conclusions was further verified by using the data of listed companies and manufacturing sub-sectors from 2010 to 2019. The main conclusions were as follows: ① GVC position generally showed a positive environmental effect. GVC position could reduce the pollution emissions per unit of output value of enterprises. This core conclusion still held after robustness tests such as replacement of measurement indicators, replacement of sample data, and endogenous discussions. ② The results of the analysis of the mechanism of action showed that GVC position would reduce CPI through the output effect and technological innovation effect. ③ The results of the heterogeneity analysis showed that, under different corporate ownership types, technical levels, and regional characteristics, GVC position had a more obvious impact on improving the environmental effects of foreign-funded enterprises, high-tech enterprises, and enterprises in China’ s eastern region. ④ The research perspective of the article shifted from the micro-enterprise level to the meso-level industry level. The results of the dynamic decomposition of pollutant emission intensity at the industry level showed that the contribution of the resource reallocation effect to the reduction of industry pollution emission intensity was 55.39%, and it was an important channel for GVC position to pollution intensity. To this end, the study puts forward relevant policy suggestions from the aspects of implementing a more active opening strategy, enhancing the technological innovation capabilities of enterprises, and encouraging the coordinated development of multi-type enterprises and regional coordinated development, providing theoretical support and empirical evidence for promoting high-quality economic development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of theoretical and practical significance to study the impact of mixed-ownership reform, the core measure of stateowned enterprise (SOE) reform, on the green innovation of SOEs. Using the data of SOEs listed in the China A-share stock market from 2010 to 2019, this study empirically tested the impact, mechanisms, and heterogeneous impact of mixed-ownership reform on the green innovation of SOEs through a Propensity Score Matching+Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) model based on the shareholding ratio of non-state-owned shareholders among the top ten shareholders of state-owned enterprises. On this basis, this paper further explored the spillover effect of mixed-ownership reform on the green innovation of SOEs. The results showed that: ① Mixed-ownership reform could effectively promote the green innovation of SOEs. After using the placebo test and instrumental variable method to alleviate the endogenous problem and replacing the matching basis for the robustness test, the conclusion was still valid. ② The mechanism test showed that the improvement of corporate governance level and the knowledge spillover effect were important channels for mixed ownership reform to promote the green innovation of SOEs. The profit-seeking nature of non-state-owned shareholders might have a dampening effect on the green innovation of SOEs in mixed-ownership reform. ③ The heterogeneity analysis of industry characteristics showed that in competitive industries and environmental protection industries, mixed-ownership reform had a more obvious impact on promoting the green innovation of SOEs. ④ Although the mixed-ownership reform promoted the green innovation of SOEs, it was not the higher the better in terms of the proportion of non-state-owned shareholders. When non-state-owned shareholders accounted for 15% to 30%, the promotion effect on the green innovation of SOEs was most obvious. ⑤ The mixed-ownership reform had a spillover effect on the green innovation of unreformed SOEs, effectively promoting the substantive green innovation of these SOEs in the same industry. Therefore, the study proposes that the important role of mixed-ownership reform in green development should be fully recognized and the mixed-ownership reform of SOEs should be further promoted. We should promote the formation of a mutually balanced equity structure and rationally allocate the proportion of non-state-owned capital. At the same time, we should avoid the ‘one-size-fits-all’ mixed-ownership reform and adhere to the classification and stratification of orderly progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mobility of air pollution and the free-riding phenomenon in the process of pollution control determine that joint prevention and control policies should be implemented in a larger area. As China’ s economic development shifts from high-speed growth to high-quality development, the spatial structure of economic development is undergoing profound changes. Regional integration with urban agglomerations and megalopolis as units plays an increasingly important role in promoting economic development and environmental governance. Based on the regression method of geographical regression discontinuity, this study used the panel data of prefectures and counties in China from 2005 to 2019 to study whether the regional integration of urban agglomeration was conducive to better haze reduction. The empirical results showed that: ① On the whole, the regional integration of urban agglomeration played a role in haze reduction, and the annual average PM2.5 concentration of prefectures and counties within the urban agglomeration was 11.204 μg/m³ lower than that of those outside the urban agglomeration. ② Mechanism analysis showed that structural haze reduction and technical haze reduction were important ways for regional integration to exert haze reduction effects. The former was mainly realized through industrial division and transfer between the central area and the peripheral area, and the latter was mainly realized through technology transfer and knowledge spillover under the center-periphery structure. ③ The haze reduction effects produced by regional integration had large regional differences, and the three major urban agglomerations with relatively mature development had the most significant haze reduction effects. Furthermore, the joint prevention and control policy of air pollution with urban agglomeration as the unit exerted a better effect on haze reduction. ④ The implication of this paper showed that: regional integration has produced a significant positive environmental impact and it is of great practical significance to continuously build an inter-regional environmental collaborative governance mechanism within the scope of urban agglomeration. It is necessary to actively promote the overall control of air pollution on a larger geographical scale and pay attention to the division of labor and cooperation between industries in different regions in the process of regional integration, and at the same time, increase investment in technological innovation within the region and encourage local government and enterprises to carry out research and development of pollution control and emission reduction technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies mainly focus on exploring the ‘inclusive effect’ of digital finance in the process of technological innovation, but generally ignore the ‘network effect’ of digital finance empowerment. Based on China’s inter-provincial panel data and threshold regression technology, this paper empirically examined the nonlinear empowerment mechanism of digital finance to promote the development of green innovation. The results of this study showed that: during the study period, digital finance significantly drove China ’s green innovation and the empowerment effect of the eastern and central regions was much higher than that of the western regions, indicating that the ‘inclusive effect’ of digital finance was significant; the empowerment effect of digital finance on green innovation had a positive dynamic evolution process from weak to strong, but this kind of ‘network effect’ characteristic mainly appeared in the eastern and western regions, while the central region showed a positive ‘U’-shape nonlinear pattern; and the nonlinear empowerment effect of digital finance on green innovation had a heterogeneous and strengthened adjustment mechanism. It had positive and increasing marginal efficiency characteristics under the adjustment of urbanization, fiscal transparency, and residents’ income level. It was manifested under the constraints of urban-rural income gap and economic growth targets. Under the influence of technology introduction, it presented a positive inverted a ‘U’-shaped characteristic. At present, only by continuously improving fiscal transparency, residents’ income, and urbanization level, continuously narrowing the urban-rural income gap, and keeping the economic growth target and technology introduction at a reasonable level, can we maximize the green innovation effect empowered by digital finance. This article has discovered the coexistence of the ‘inclusive effect’ and ‘network effect’ of digital finance empowerment in the process of green innovation. The relevant conclusions may provide local governments with a ‘Digital Finance Express’ during the 14th Five-Year Plan period to accelerate the development of green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on China’s national innovation-driven strategy, green technological innovation is an important means to alleviate economic -environmental contradictions. This paper builds on three-dimensional framework of market institution technology based on the theory of‘ asymmetric innovation’ and deconstructs it into five subdivision indicators of marketization, environmental regulation, government funding, R&D capital investment, and R&D personnel investment. Using a combination of QCA (Qualitative Comparative Analysis) and NCA (Necessary Condition Analysis), from a configuration perspective, this research focuses on the regional differences, key driving factors, and realization paths of China’s green technology innovation. The analysis shows that: ① The distribution of China’s green technological innovation presents obvious regional differences and concentrated radiation effects. The level of green technological innovation decreases from the eastern coast, the southern coast, the northern coast, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the southwest, the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the northeast, to the northwest comprehensive economic zone. The concentrated radiation effect in coastal areas is significant. ② The NCA method shows that the marketization process, environmental regulations, government funding, R&D capital investment and R&D personnel investment are all necessary conditions (insufficient) for achieving green technological innovation at a level of 20% and above. The necessity of R&D capital investment, marketization process and R&D personnel investment is more obvious. The QCA necessary condition analysis shows that R&D capital investment is the necessary condition for achieving green technological innovation, and there is no necessary condition for non-green technological innovation. The QCA necessary condition analysis result is a subset of the NCA result, and the conclusions of the two methods are complementary. ③ The QCA configuration analysis shows that there are two paths to achieve high-level green technological innovation, namely, a market-driven path led by the technological investment and a free and open type led by technological investment. There are two paths leading to non-high-level green technological innovation, namely the multi-factor scarce path and the resource curse type under market constraints path. This research enriches the theory of technological innovation, highlights the Chinese context of asymmetric innovation, and provides policy recommendations to regional governments for more innovative incentives and optimizations and the discovery of feasible paths of green technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]