城市品牌建设与绿色经济效率--基于“全国文明城市”评选的准自然实验

City Brand Construction and Green Economy Efficiency——A Quasi-natural Experiment Based on the Selection of a“National Civilized City”

以2003-2020年中国262个地级及以上城市为研究样本,基于“全国文明城市”评选的准自然实验,运用多期双重差分模型剖析城市品牌建设对绿色经济效率的影响效应及其内在机制。研究结果显示,全国文明城市这一城市品牌建设能够提升绿色经济效率。在进行平行趋势检验、安慰剂检验等一系列稳健性检验后,研究结论依旧成立。异质性分析结果表明,全国文明城市这一城市品牌建设对绿色经济效率的影响在地理区位较优、品牌依赖度较高及品牌相对稀缺的城市更加明显。机制分析结果表明,全国文明城市这一城市品牌建设能够通过促进绿色技术创新、强化环境规制和优化产业结构升级提升绿色经济效率。研究结论为充分识别城市品牌建设效应及拓宽城市绿色经济效率提升路径提供了政策启示。

Giving full play to the coordinated development effect of city brand construction on the economy and ecological environment is the main means to promote the green transformation of urban governance and important support for high-quality economic development.Therefore,this paper analyzes the effect of city brand construction on green economic efficiency and its underlying mechanisms using the multi-phase difference-in-differences(DID)based on the selection of“national civilized city”in a sample of 262 cities above prefecture level in China over the period 2003-2020,which provides policy insights for identifying the effects of city brand construction and broadening the improvement path of urban green economic efficiency.This paper finds that the city brand construction of national civilized cities can significantly improve green economic efficiency,and the findings still hold after a series of robustness tests such as parallel trend test and placebo test.Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of city brand construction as a nationally civilized city on green economic efficiency is more pronounced in cities with better geographical locations,higher brand dependence,and relatively scarce brands.The mechanism analysis shows that city brand construction as a nationally civilized city can enhance green economic efficiency by promoting green technological innovation,strengthening environmental regulation,and optimizing industrial structure upgrading.Based on the above conclusions,this paper puts forward the following policy suggestions.Firstly,it is necessary to accurately identify the characteristics of cities and formulate differentiated policies and measures.Local governments should carry out comprehensive and in-depth research on each city and formulate targeted policy implementation plans based on the differences in geographical location,brand dependence,and brand scarcity.Secondly,it is necessary to strengthen green technology innovation and give full play to the advantages of combined policies.Government departments should take green innovation as the primary task to lead green development and give full play to the“certification”effect of financial subsidies on enterprises green technology innovation.Governments should actively introduce green investment institutions and promote social capital to invest in green enterprises.Thirdly,it is necessary to set up green demonstration models and continuously promote the upgrading of industrial structures.Governments should accelerate the introduction and cultivation of advanced green enterprises,strengthen the leading role of advanced typical demonstration,and guide traditional industries to establish green value orientation.Finally,it is necessary to improve the environmental governance system and establish a sound environmental supervision system.Environmental governance policies should keep pace with the times and“personalized”governance plans for enterprises of different industries and sizes should be formulated.