经济下行压力、公共价值冲突与地方政府低碳治理

Economic Downturn Pressure,Public Value Conflict and Local GovernmentsLow-carbon Governance

我国“双碳”目标的实现需要地方政府积极高效地推进低碳治理工作,但在地方政府近年来的低碳治理中,却频繁出现“能耗水平不降反增”“盲目上马两高项目”“落后产能淘汰不到位”等问题。究其原因,是经济下行压力激化了公共价值冲突,让部分地方政府陷入了两难困境并出现了偏差行为。基于我国226个地级市2012—2020年的面板数据,本文从公共价值冲突视角揭示了经济下行压力影响地方政府低碳治理效率的作用机制,并进一步分析了政府数字化转型能力对于该作用机制的消解效应。实证结论如下。(1)经济下行压力会对地方政府低碳治理效率产生显著的负面影响。(2)公共价值冲突是经济下行压力影响地方政府低碳治理的核心机制。经济下行压力会激化公共价值冲突,使低碳治理成为一个“棘手问题”并诱导地方政府出现偏差行为,进而负面影响了其低碳治理效率。(3)当地方政府具有较高的数字化转型能力时,公共价值冲突的中介效应会被显著弱化。本文为我国“双碳”问题研究提供了一个全新的理论视角,不仅有助于人们从公共价值冲突视角认识地方政府在低碳治理中所面临的痛点问题,也为探索公共价值冲突的消解策略提供了一定的理论和政策启示。

To reach Chinas carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals requires that local governments actively and efficiently promote low-carbon governance.However,in recent years,problems such as“increasing,instead of decreasing,energy consumption”,“blindly launching high-energy-consuming and high-emission projects”,and“insufficiently eliminating backward production capacity”have frequently arisen,thereby affecting the low-carbon efforts by local governments.The reason for these issues is that economic downturn pressures have intensified public value conflicts,causing a dilemma for local governments and leading to deviant behavior.Based on panel data from 226 prefecturallevel cities in China from 2012 to 2020,this article explores the mechanism by which economic downturn pressures affect the efficiency of low-carbon governance efforts by local governments from the perspective of public value conflicts.Furthermore,the article analyzes the moderating effects of local governmentsdigital transformation on this mechanism from a dynamic capability perspective.The article comprehensively uses analytical methods and techniques,such as Data Envelopment Analysis,Text Analysis based on Machine Learning,the Entropy Method,the Bootstrap Method,and the Moderated Mediation Effect Model.The research conclusions indicate that:(1)Economic downturn pressures have a significant negative impact on the efficiency of local governmentslow-carbon governance efforts.The greater the economic downturn pressures faced by local governments,the lower the efficiency of their low-carbon governance efforts;(2)Public value conflicts are the mediating mechanism by which economic downturn pressures interfere with local governmentslow-carbon governance efforts,and they are also the core mechanism transmitting the negative impacts of the economic downturn pressures.Economic downturn pressures intensify the conflicts between two sets of public values:“economic development”and the“ecological environment”.Public value conflicts make low-carbon governance a“serious problem”and induce deviant behavior by local governments,thereby negatively affecting their low-carbon governance efficiency;(3)Digital transformation capabilities can negatively moderate the mediating effects of public value conflicts.When local governments have a higher capability for digital transformation,the mechanism by which economic downturn pressures reduce lowcarbon governance efficiency by intensifying public value conflicts is significantly weakened.This article provides a new theoretical perspective for the study of Chinas carbon peaking and carbon neutrality issues.It not only contributes to an understanding of the painful low-carbon governance problems faced by local governments from the perspective of public value conflicts but also provides theoretical and policy insights into the behavioral patterns of local governments and explores strategies to resolve public value conflicts.