Environmental Regulation, Urban-Rural Income Gap and Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity

Guoqun Ma, Danyang Lv, Yuxi Luo and Tuanbiao Jiang
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Guoqun Ma: School of Economic & Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541006, China
Danyang Lv: School of Economic & Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541006, China
Yuxi Luo: School of Economic & Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541006, China
Tuanbiao Jiang: School of Economic & Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541006, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-22

Abstract: Environmental regulation is the basis for achieving green agricultural development, and urban-rural integration is the key to optimizing the allocation of agricultural elements and achieving sustainable agricultural development. This paper aims to investigate the spatial spillover effect of environmental regulation on China’s agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) and examine the mediating effect of the urban-rural income gap. Both the Super-SBM-DEA model and the Global Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index are used to account for the AGTFP of China’s 30 provinces, and the spatial Durbin model and the mediating effect model are used to analyze the impact of environmental regulation. We found that firstly, during the sample period, China’s AGTFP has increased with an average annual growth rate of 3.27%, which is mainly promoted by agricultural green technology progress (AGTC). Secondly, both the direct and spatial effects of environmental regulation on AGTFP show a significant “U”-shaped feature and have regional heterogeneity based on differences in economic development levels and factor endowments. Thirdly, there is an “inverted U”-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and the urban-rural income gap, and the urban-rural income gap negatively affects AGTFP. Based on the empirical results, we propose that the Chinese government should pay attention to green technology innovation, break the market segmentation, promote urban-rural integration, and then promote the AGTFP.

Keywords: environmental regulation; agricultural green total factor productivity; urban-rural income gap; nonlinear spatial Durbin model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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