Achieving a Sustainable Balance:Strategies for Environmental Protection and Economic Development in Key National Ecological Function Zones
In China,it has become a social consensus that"natural waters"and"lush mountains"are invaluable assets,but few studies have examined their internal mechanism and conditions of realisation.This paper constructs a simple theoretical model,takes the national policy of key ecological function areas as a quasi-natural experiment and,using the difference-in-differences(DID)method,empirically examines its impact on regional economic development and environmental protection.Research reveals that national policy in key ecological function areas significantly promotes per capita GDP and vegetation coverage index in counties.The mechanism analysis shows that the improvement in the spatial utilisation efficiency,the transformation of the industrial structure and the central transfer payment are important paths to promote synergy between environmental protection and economic development in counties of the national key ecological function areas.The effect of this policy is heterogeneous and mainly determined by the combination of the opportunity cost of ecological environmental protection,the transformation cost of the economic development mode,and the compensatory effect of the central transfer payment.In short,the conclusion of this paper will help counties to find the intersection between environmental protection and economic development and explore the road to green and high-quality development.
natural waters and lush mountains are invaluable assetsnational key ecological function areasgreen and high-quality development