Journal of Northeastern University(Social Science) ›› 2026, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (1): 63-75.DOI: 10.15936/j.cnki.1008-3758.2026.01.007

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The Spatial Heterogeneity of Environmental Regulations and Regional Inclusive Growth

Chenyue LIU1, Xinmiao CHEN1, Yingzhi XU2   

  1. 1.School of Economics,Hefei University of Technology,Hefei 230601,China
    2.School of Economics and Management,Southeast University,Nanjing 211189,China
  • Received:2024-09-14 Online:2026-01-25 Published:2026-01-27

Abstract:

The strong heterogeneity of environmental regulations across regions presents an important bottleneck to achieving common prosperity. Based on panel data from 174 prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2023, this study effectively measures the spatial heterogeneity of environmental regulations and the level of regional inclusive growth, and empirically examines the impact pathways and transmission mechanisms through which the spatial heterogeneity of environmental regulations affects regional inclusive growth. The research results indicate that the spatial heterogeneity of environmental regulations exerts a strong nonlinear impact on regional inclusive growth, with significant regional heterogeneity and heterogeneity across different stages of industrial structure development. This conclusion still holds true after robustness and endogeneity tests. At the same time, public environmental perception and government environmental attention exhibit a strong moderating effect on the impact of spatial heterogeneity of environmental regulations on inclusive growth. The analysis of the mechanism of action reveals that industrial transfer serves as a key channel through which the spatial heterogeneity of environmental regulations affects regional inclusive growth. Based on this, it is proposed that local governments formulate collaborative environmental regulation strategies to address the spatial heterogeneity of unreasonable environmental regulations.

Key words: environmental regulation, spatial heterogeneity, regional inclusive growth, industrial transfer

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