From"River Division and Governance"to"Co-governance for Prosperity"——Research on the Impact of Cross Provincial Ecological Compensation for River Basins on Regional Economic Growth
Cross-provincial ecological compensation for river basins is an innovative exploration in which fiscal policies play a positive role in the construction of ecological civilization in river basins.It is also a joint practice of river basin governance involving the central government and local governments along the river.This article is based on panel data from pilot areas of cross-provincial watershed ecological com-pensation in China from 2008 to 2020,and uses the difference-in-differences with multiple time periods to study the impact and mechanism of cross-provincial watershed ecological compensation on economic growth in upstream regions.The empirical results indicate that ecological compensation significantly pro-motes the economic development of upstream regions.The mechanism test shows that ecological compensa-tion mainly promotes regional economic growth by strengthening the environmental regulation intensity of upstream local governments,increasing the degree of fiscal decentralization and the proportion of people's livelihood fiscal expenditure.However,the promotion effect of adjusting regional industri-al structure on economic growth is not significant.Heterogeneity analysis found that the promotion effect of cross-provincial watershed ecological compensation on economic growth in upstream regions was most prom-inent in the first round of signing contracts;it has a stronger promoting effect on the compensated areas in the central and western regions.
Cross-provincial ecological compensation for river basinsEconomic developmentRiv-er basins co-governanceEnvironmental regulationFinancial capacity
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