IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v125y2023ics0264999323001785.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green growth: The impact of urban forest construction on economic growth in China

Author

Listed:
  • Ai, Hongshan
  • Zhou, Zhengqing

Abstract

This paper examines whether and how China's National Forest City (NFC) policy affects economic growth through ecosystem services restoration. Although extensive research has examined the impact of pollutant-oriented environmental regulation, the understanding of how ecosystem services restoration policies affect economic growth remains limited. Using a Chinese county panel from 1999 to 2019, we found that the NFC significantly promotes economic growth. The NFC improves environmental conditions by providing ecosystem services to increase green vegetation, purify air quality, and mitigate heat island effects. The environmental improvement-induced total factor productivity and human capital enhancement are the mechanisms through which the NFC promotes economic growth, which is enhanced with improvements in the urban ecosystem. Furthermore, the economic impact of NFC is heterogeneous in industry departments and regions. The urban ecosystem services restoration policy is a practical approach to achieving simultaneous economic growth and ecological protection.

Suggested Citation

  • Ai, Hongshan & Zhou, Zhengqing, 2023. "Green growth: The impact of urban forest construction on economic growth in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:125:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323001785
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106366
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999323001785
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106366?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petia Topalova, 2010. "Factor Immobility and Regional Impacts of Trade Liberalization: Evidence on Poverty from India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 1-41, October.
    2. J. Vernon Henderson & Matthew A. Turner, 2020. "Urbanization in the Developing World: Too Early or Too Slow?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 150-173, Summer.
    3. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    4. Tsurumi, Tetsuya & Imauji, Atsushi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "Greenery and Subjective Well-being: Assessing the Monetary Value of Greenery by Type," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 152-169.
    5. Liu, Wan-Yu & Tsao, Chen & Lin, Chun-Cheng, 2023. "Tourists' preference for colors of forest landscapes and its implications for forest landscape planning policies," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    6. Zhang, Yingjie & Zhang, Tianzheng & Zeng, Yingxiang & Cheng, Baodong & Li, Hongxun, 2021. "Designating National Forest Cities in China: Does the policy improve the urban living environment?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    7. Sander, Heather & Polasky, Stephen & Haight, Robert G., 2010. "The value of urban tree cover: A hedonic property price model in Ramsey and Dakota Counties, Minnesota, USA," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1646-1656, June.
    8. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    9. Newell, Richard G. & Prest, Brian C. & Sexton, Steven E., 2021. "The GDP-Temperature relationship: Implications for climate change damages," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    10. Graff Zivin, Joshua & Song, Yingquan & Tang, Qu & Zhang, Peng, 2020. "Temperature and high-stakes cognitive performance: Evidence from the national college entrance examination in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    11. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    12. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    13. Bournakis, Ioannis & Mallick, Sushanta, 2018. "TFP estimation at firm level: The fiscal aspect of productivity convergence in the UK," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 579-590.
    14. Sam Asher & Teevrat Garg & Paul Novosad, 2020. "The Ecological Impact of Transportation Infrastructure," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(629), pages 1173-1199.
    15. Joshua Graff Zivin & Matthew Neidell, 2013. "Environment, Health, and Human Capital," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(3), pages 689-730, September.
    16. Shao, Shuai & Li, Baoli & Fan, Meiting & Yang, Lili, 2021. "How does labor transfer affect environmental pollution in rural China? Evidence from a survey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    17. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    18. Jones, Benjamin A. & McDermott, Shana M., 2018. "The economics of urban afforestation: Insights from an integrated bioeconomic-health model," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 116-135.
    19. Jones, Benjamin A. & Goodkind, Andrew L., 2019. "Urban afforestation and infant health: Evidence from MillionTreesNYC," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 26-44.
    20. Li, Jiewei & Lu, Ming & Lu, Tianyi, 2022. "Constructing compact cities: How urban regeneration can enhance growth and relieve congestion," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    21. Xue, Shuyu & Zhang, Bohui & Zhao, Xiaofeng, 2021. "Brain drain: The impact of air pollution on firm performance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    22. Vujcic, Maja & Tomicevic-Dubljevic, Jelena, 2018. "Urban forest benefits to the younger population: The case study of the city of Belgrade, Serbia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 54-62.
    23. Andrew M. Jones & José M. Labeaga, 2003. "Individual heterogeneity and censoring in panel data estimates of tobacco expenditure," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(2), pages 157-177.
    24. Shihe Fu & V Brian Viard & Peng Zhang, 2021. "Air Pollution and Manufacturing Firm Productivity: Nationwide Estimates for China [Management and shocks to worker productivity]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3241-3273.
    25. Smyth, Russell & Mishra, Vinod & Qian, Xiaolei, 2008. "The Environment and Well-Being in Urban China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 547-555, December.
    26. Han, Ahram & Kim, Taejong & Ten, Gi Khan & Wang, Shun, 2023. "Air pollution and gender imbalance in labor supply responses: Evidence from South Korea," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    27. Ying Bai & James Kai-sing Kung, 2011. "Climate Shocks and Sino-nomadic Conflict," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 970-981, August.
    28. Sol, Joeri, 2019. "Economics in the anthropocene: species extinction or steady state economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    29. Bing Yang Tan, 2022. "Save a Tree and Save a Life: Estimating the Health Benefits of Urban Forests," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 82(3), pages 657-680, July.
    30. Eli P. Fenichel & Joshua K. Abbott, 2014. "Natural Capital: From Metaphor to Measurement," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 1-27.
    31. He, Wenjian & Cheng, Yu & Lin, Ying & Zhang, Hongxiao, 2022. "Microeconomic effects of designating National Forest Cities: Evidence from China's publicly traded manufacturing companies," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    32. Ge, Tao & Li, Chunying & Li, Jinye & Hao, Xionglei, 2023. "Does neighboring green development benefit or suffer from local economic growth targets? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    33. He, Guojun & Xie, Yang & Zhang, Bing, 2020. "Expressways, GDP, and the environment: The case of China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    34. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sun, Chuanwang & Min, Jialin, 2024. "Dynamic trends and regional differences of economic effects of ultra-high-voltage transmission projects," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Luo, Haotian & Hu, Qing, 2024. "A re-examination of the influence of human capital on urban-rural income gap in China: College enrollment expansion, digital economy and spatial spillover," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 494-519.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Fanglin & Zhang, Xin & Chen, Zhongfei, 2023. "Air pollution and mental health: Evidence from China Health and Nutrition Survey," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Sylvia Klosin, 2024. "Dynamic Biases of Static Panel Data Estimators," Papers 2410.16112, arXiv.org.
    3. Saten Kumar, 2013. "Systems GMM estimates of the health care spending and GDP relationship: a note," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(3), pages 503-506, June.
    4. Li, Daiyue & Jin, Yanhong & Cheng, Mingwang, 2024. "Unleashing the power of industrial robotics on firm productivity: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 500-520.
    5. Ethan Ilzetzki, 2024. "Learning by Necessity: Government Demand, Capacity Constraints, and Productivity Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(8), pages 2436-2471, August.
    6. Sandra Aguilar-Gomez & Nathaly M. Rivera, 2024. "Air Pollution in the Global South: An Overview of Its Sources and Impacts," Working Papers wp561, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    7. Alam, M. Jahangir & Alvi, Eskander, 2024. "The long-run effects of monetary policy: The role of R&D investment in economic growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    8. Jones, A. M. & Laporte, A. & Rice, N. & Zucchelli, E., 2014. "A synthesis of the Grossman and Becker-Murphy models of health and addiction: theoretical and empirical implications," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 14/07, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    9. Jones, Benjamin A., 2021. "Planting urban trees to improve quality of life? The life satisfaction impacts of urban afforestation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    10. Qi, Yu & Zhang, Hongxuan & Shao, Shuai, 2024. "Valuing high temperature's fiscal costs: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 134-152.
    11. Luo, Yaping & Wu, Jianxian & Xu, Ying, 2022. "Can self-governance tackle the water commons? — Causal evidence of the effect of rural water pollution treatment on farmers' health in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    12. Solomon, Keisha T. & Dasgupta, Kabir, 2022. "State mental health insurance parity laws and college educational outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. Segundo Camino‐Mogro & Natalia Bermudez‐Barrezueta, 2021. "Productivity determinants in the construction sector in emerging country: New evidence from Ecuadorian firms," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 2391-2413, November.
    14. Li, Liqing, 2023. "Environmental goods provision and gentrification: Evidence from MillionTreesNYC," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    15. Yun Yang & Feng Hao & Xingchen Meng, 2024. "How does the national e-commerce demonstration city pilot policy boost economic growth? Evidence from China," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 51(4), pages 929-975, November.
    16. Franklin Amuakwa-Mensah & George Marbuah & Mwenya Mubanga, 2016. "Climate variability and infectious diseases nexus: evidence from Sweden," Working Papers 2016.02, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    17. Ma, Li & Li, Xiumin & Pan, Yu, 2024. "Employee allocation efficiency in the context of the digital economy: Evidence from “Broadband China” demonstration cities," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 735-752.
    18. Massimo Filippini & Suchita Srinivasan, 2019. "Investments in Worker Health and Labor Productivity: Evidence from Vietnam," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 19/326, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    19. Dimitrios Exadaktylos & Mahdi Ghodsi & Armando Rungi, 2021. "What do Firms Gain from Patenting? The Case of the Global ICT Industry," Papers 2108.00814, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2024.
    20. Duan, Wenqi & Jiang, Mingming & Qi, Jianhong, 2024. "Poverty or pollution: The environmental cost of E-commerce for poverty reduction in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:125:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323001785. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.