环境保护是否阻碍经济增长？——基于国家重点生态功能区环保机构垂直改革的研究
文摘
财经
2024-11-05 09:30
上海
环境保护是否阻碍经济增长？——基于国家重点生态功能区环保机构垂直改革的研究
Does Environmental Protection Hinder Economic Growth? Based on the Vertical Reform of Environmental Protection Departments in the National Key Ecological Function Zones
《财经研究》2024年50卷第9期 页码：78-93 online：2024年9月3日
中：林立国1,2 , 杜泓钰2
英：Lin Liguo1,2, Du Hongyu2
作者单位：1. 上海财经大学 数理经济学教育部重点实验室，上海 200433; 2. 上海财经大学 经济学院，上海 200433
摘要：2016年，中国开始实施省以下环保机构垂直改革，地方政府和各级环保部门职能进行了大幅调整，这可能会带来环境、产业、经济等多方面的影响。文章以国家重点生态功能区（以下简称生态功能区）为研究对象，探究了省以下环保机构垂直改革对生态功能区的影响。研究发现，在垂直改革之后，生态功能区的实际人均经济水平不降反升，上升了约3.3个百分点，其中第一产业和第三产业提升是经济增长的主要原因。在垂直改革之后，县级环保部门的执法能力增强，空气污染和水污染水平显著下降，这对生态功能区内的农业及旅游业发展产生了显著的促进作用。垂直改革减少了地方政府的环境执法干预，改革之前地方环境分权程度越高、财政压力越大，经济增长效果越明显；同时，垂直改革与生态扶贫具有协同效应，以一种切实有效的方式推动了生态功能区的经济绿色健康发展。
关键词：国家重点生态功能区；环保机构垂直改革；生态经济
Summary: Over the past decade, China has made many remarkable achievements in ecological civilization, but some regions still face the problem of frequent natural disasters. In 2010, the State Council issued the National Functional Zoning Plan, officially defined the national key ecological function zones to protect ecological environment. In September 2016, China issued the Guidelines for the Pilot Program for the Vertical Management Reform of Environmental Monitoring, Inspection, and Law Enforcement below the Provincial Level, which enhanced the supervision capacity of provincial environmental protection departments and the independence of grassroots environmental protection departments. In the national key ecological function zones, environmental quality is high-correlated with economic growth, so it provides an appropriate setting to study the relationship between environmental protection and economic growth. Based on the data from 2013-2021 China statistical yearbook (County-level), this paper takes the implementation of vertical reform policies as a quasi-natural experiment and employs the DID method to empirically analyze the impact of the reform on economic growth in the national ecological function zones. The findings indicate that the reform has a significantly positive impact on economic growth, with a more pronounced effect observed in areas with a higher degree of environmental decentralization, higher fiscal pressure, impoverished counties, and more afforestation. The vertical reform enhances the independence of grassroots environmental protection departments and promotes environmental quality. The reduction of air and water pollution has a positive impact on the agriculture and tourism, which contributes to economic growth. This paper discusses the impact of environmental protection on economic growth, enriching the “two mountains” theory. Moreover, the vertical reform adjusts the function of local governments and environmental protection agencies, this paper also provides empirical support for the subsequent comprehensive administrative law enforcement reform of ecological environment protection.
Key words: national key ecological function zones; vertical reform of environmental protection departments; ecological economy
DOI：10.16538/j.cnki.jfe.20240804.101
收稿日期：2023-11-09
