撤县设区改革对县域绿色低碳发展的影响

The Impact of the Reform of Removing Counties into Districts on the Green and Low-carbon Development of Counties

本文选取2007-2019年中国大陆县域数据,以撤县设区改革为切入点,借助计量模型探讨行政区划调整对县域绿色低碳发展的影响,并分析地方政府行为(经济增长目标约束、地方政府官员变更和县域环保部门执法)在其中表现的作用。研究发现,整体来看,撤县设区改革显著增加县域碳排放量,致使其上升约0.202个单位。被撤并县域基础设施建设(县域公路密度规模和区域绿色植被覆盖程度减少)、工业转移集聚(污染转移准入与专业化集聚滞后)与政府财政失衡是导致其碳排放增长的重要机制路径。政府经济目标增长硬约束、市(县)长更替和县级环保部门执法监督弱化均能够显著负向影响被撤并县域的绿色低碳质量。研究建议,政府应该注重提升被撤并县域绿色低碳质量,促进区域协调发展。

This study uses county data from 2007 to 2019 in China’s mainland,uses the county abolition reform as its starting point,uses an econometric model to examine the effects of administrative division adjustment on green low-carbon development in counties,and evaluates the performance of local government behavior,including restrictions on economic growth targets,changes in local government officials,and enforcement of county environmental protection departments.According to the study,the reform of abolition counties and creating districts results in an overall increase in county carbon emissions of about 0.202 units.The key mechanisms causing the annexed counties’ increasing carbon emissions are the development of their infrastructure(reduction in the scale of county road density and regional green vegetation coverage),industrial transfer and agglomeration(lagging access to pollution transfer and specialized agglomeration),and government fiscal imbalance.The strict limitations on the expansion of government economic goals,the frequent changes in municipal(county) governors,and the lax enforcement oversight by county-level environmental protection departments can all have a detrimental impact on how green and low-carbon the annexed counties are.To encourage coordinated regional growth,the report advises the government to concentrate on the environmentally friendly and low-carbon characteristics of the counties that were reformed.