Transfer payment in national key ecological functional areas and economic development: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Shuai Chen (), Mengyang Hou (), Xiuying Wang () and Shunbo Yao ()
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Shuai Chen: Northwest A & F University
Mengyang Hou: Hebei University
Xiuying Wang: Northwest A & F University
Shunbo Yao: Northwest A & F University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2024, vol. 26, issue 2, No 50, 4075-4095

Abstract: Abstract Constraints and incentives of the ecological policy have an important impact on the coordinated development of ecological areas. Based on the panel data of 1613 counties in 23 provinces in China from 2002 to 2019, this paper analyzes the impact of this policy on economic development using the quasi-natural experiment of the transfer payment in national key ecological functional areas (TPNKEFA) and studies the impact of the transfer payment scale on economic development based on the panel threshold model. First, the results reveal that the TPNKEFA can significantly boost economic development, compared with the control group, TPNKEFA can increase gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita GDP by 6.14% and 10.72%, the results have been validated by some placebo tests, and the impact of this policy on economic development is sustained and effective. Second, heterogeneity results show that TPNKEFA has the greatest positive effect on the economic development in the eastern region, followed by the central region, and the least positive effect on the western region. Furthermore, the TPNKEFA facilitates local economic development primarily by increasing human capital in ecological functional areas. Third, the capital scale of TPNKEFA has the double-threshold effect on economic development, the larger the scale is, the stronger the effect is. The capital size of TPNKEFA has the greatest impact on regional economic growth in eastern region, whereas it has the weakest impact in western region.

Keywords: Transfer payment of ecological functional areas policy; Economic development; Difference-in-difference method; Threshold effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02871-w

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