IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/mgtdec/v44y2023i4p1978-1994.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ecological innovation effect of broadband network infrastructure: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Meitong Lu
  • Qi Luo
  • Dawei Feng

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of Broadband Network Infrastructure (BNI) on urban ecological innovation (EI). The implementation of China's “Broadband China” Demonstration City (BCDC) construction policy provides a quasi‐natural experiment for examining the causal effect of BNI on urban EI. Using the difference‐in‐differences method, we find that BNI significantly increases the number of green patent applications in local cities, and that the effect is increasing over time. Examination of the underlying mechanism reveals that BNI promotes urban EI through stimulating entrepreneurship, improving human capital level, and attracting investment agglomeration. This paper contributes to the understanding of why significant innovation frequently occurs in places with relatively perfect infrastructure, such as networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Meitong Lu & Qi Luo & Dawei Feng, 2023. "Ecological innovation effect of broadband network infrastructure: Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(4), pages 1978-1994, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:44:y:2023:i:4:p:1978-1994
    DOI: 10.1002/mde.3794
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.3794
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/mde.3794?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gray, Wayne B. & Shadbegian, R.J.Ronald J., 2004. "'Optimal' pollution abatement--whose benefits matter, and how much?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 510-534, May.
    2. Anders Akerman & Ingvil Gaarder & Magne Mogstad, 2015. "The Skill Complementarity of Broadband Internet," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(4), pages 1781-1824.
    3. Brian Chi-ang Lin & Siqi Zheng & Nicolò Barbieri & Claudia Ghisetti & Marianna Gilli & Giovanni Marin & Francesco Nicolli, 2016. "A Survey Of The Literature On Environmental Innovation Based On Main Path Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 596-623, July.
    4. Xu Xu & Alison Watts & Markum Reed, 2019. "Does access to internet promote innovation? A look at the U.S. broadband industry," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 1423-1440, December.
    5. Horbach, Jens & Rammer, Christian & Rennings, Klaus, 2012. "Determinants of eco-innovations by type of environmental impact — The role of regulatory push/pull, technology push and market pull," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 112-122.
    6. Strover, Sharon, 2001. "Rural internet connectivity," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 331-347, June.
    7. Carrión-Flores, Carmen E. & Innes, Robert, 2010. "Environmental innovation and environmental performance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 27-42, January.
    8. Markusen, James R. & Venables, Anthony J., 1999. "Foreign direct investment as a catalyst for industrial development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 335-356, February.
    9. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    10. Hua Wang & Yanhong Jin, 2007. "Industrial Ownership and Environmental Performance: Evidence from China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 36(3), pages 255-273, March.
    11. Adam B. Jaffe & Karen Palmer, 1997. "Environmental Regulation And Innovation: A Panel Data Study," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(4), pages 610-619, November.
    12. Huang, Zhehao & Liao, Gaoke & Li, Zhenghui, 2019. "Loaning scale and government subsidy for promoting green innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 148-156.
    13. Wang, Jin, 2013. "The economic impact of Special Economic Zones: Evidence from Chinese municipalities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 133-147.
    14. Sun, Huaping & Edziah, Bless Kofi & Sun, Chuanwang & Kporsu, Anthony Kwaku, 2019. "Institutional quality, green innovation and energy efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    15. Chaiyawit Muangmee & Zdzisława Dacko-Pikiewicz & Nusanee Meekaewkunchorn & Nuttapon Kassakorn & Bilal Khalid, 2021. "Green Entrepreneurial Orientation and Green Innovation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-15, April.
    16. Shafik, Nemat, 1994. "Economic Development and Environmental Quality: An Econometric Analysis," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 757-773, Supplemen.
    17. Elizabeth A. Mack, 2014. "Broadband and knowledge intensive firm clusters: Essential link or auxiliary connection?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 3-29, March.
    18. Requate, Till, 2005. "Dynamic incentives by environmental policy instruments--a survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2-3), pages 175-195, August.
    19. Radosevic, Slavo & Yoruk, Esin, 2013. "Entrepreneurial propensity of innovation systems: Theory, methodology and evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 1015-1038.
    20. Siying Yang & Shunyu Ma & Jingjing Lu, 2022. "Can government venture capital guidance funds promote urban innovation? Evidence from China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 753-770, June.
    21. Rosa Sanchis-Guarner & José Montalbán & Felix Weinhardt, 2021. "Home Broadband and Human Capital Formation," Working Papers 923, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    22. Van De Ven, H., 1993. "The development of an infrastructure for entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 211-230, May.
    23. Fonseca, Tiago & de Faria, Pedro & Lima, Francisco, 2019. "Human capital and innovation: the importance of the optimal organizational task structure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 616-627.
    24. Popp, David & Hafner, Tamara & Johnstone, Nick, 2011. "Environmental policy vs. public pressure: Innovation and diffusion of alternative bleaching technologies in the pulp industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1253-1268.
    25. Jintao Ma & Qiuguang Hu & Weiteng Shen & Xinyi Wei, 2021. "Does the Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy Promote Green Technology Innovation? Based on Green Patent Data of Chinese A-Share Listed Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-18, April.
    26. Fang, Zhen & Razzaq, Asif & Mohsin, Muhammad & Irfan, Muhammad, 2022. "Spatial spillovers and threshold effects of internet development and entrepreneurship on green innovation efficiency in China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    27. Nina Czernich & Oliver Falck & Tobias Kretschmer & Ludger Woessmann, 2011. "Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(552), pages 505-532, May.
    28. Serdar Yilmaz & Kingley E. Haynes & Mustafa Dinc, 2002. "Geographic and Network Neighbors: Spillover Effects of Telecommunications Infrastructure," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 339-360, May.
    29. Fisman, Raymond & Svensson, Jakob, 2007. "Are corruption and taxation really harmful to growth? Firm level evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 63-75, May.
    30. Jerzmanowski, Michal, 2007. "Total factor productivity differences: Appropriate technology vs. efficiency," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 2080-2110, November.
    31. Rodrigo Belo & Pedro Ferreira & Rahul Telang, 2014. "Broadband in School: Impact on Student Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(2), pages 265-282, February.
    32. Faems, Dries & Subramanian, Annapoornima M., 2013. "R&D manpower and technological performance: The impact of demographic and task-related diversity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1624-1633.
    33. John V. Winters, 2011. "Why Are Smart Cities Growing? Who Moves And Who Stays," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 253-270, May.
    34. Horbach, Jens, 2008. "Determinants of environmental innovation--New evidence from German panel data sources," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 163-173, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Luo, Qi & Hu, Haoyu & Feng, Dawei & He, Xiaogang, 2022. "How does broadband infrastructure promote entrepreneurship in China: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10).
    2. Alessandra Colombelli & Jackie Krafft & Francesco Quatraro, 2021. "Firms’ growth, green gazelles and eco-innovation: evidence from a sample of European firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1721-1738, April.
    3. Brian Chi-ang Lin & Siqi Zheng & Nicolò Barbieri & Claudia Ghisetti & Marianna Gilli & Giovanni Marin & Francesco Nicolli, 2016. "A Survey Of The Literature On Environmental Innovation Based On Main Path Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 596-623, July.
    4. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi & Alessandro Palma, 2015. "Characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco-innovation in energy-efficient technologies," SEEDS Working Papers 1115, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jun 2015.
    5. Ruiqian Li & Guanghua Xu & Ramakrishnan Ramanathan, 2022. "The impact of environmental investments on green innovation: An integration of factors that increase or decrease uncertainty," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3388-3405, November.
    6. Pinget, Amandine, 2016. "Spécificités des déterminants des innovations environnementales : une approche appliquée aux PME [Specificities of determinants for environmental innovation : an approach applied to SMEs]," MPRA Paper 80108, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Xianghua Yue & Shikuan Zhao & Xin Ding & Long Xin, 2022. "How the Pilot Low-Carbon City Policy Promotes Urban Green Innovation: Based on Temporal-Spatial Dual Perspectives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-20, December.
    8. Gutsche, Gunnar & Ziegler, Andreas, 2019. "Determinants of environmental product and process innovations: New evidence on the basis of European panel data," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203617, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Cainelli, Giulio & D’Amato, Alessio & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2020. "Resource efficient eco-innovations for a circular economy: Evidence from EU firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    10. Patricia Laurens & Christian Le Bas & Stéphane Lhuillery & Antoine Schoen, 2017. "The determinants of cleaner energy innovations of the world’s largest firms: the impact of firm learning and knowledge capital," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 311-333, May.
    11. Quatraro, Francesco & Scandura, Alessandra, 2019. "Academic Inventors and the Antecedents of Green Technologies. A Regional Analysis of Italian Patent Data," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 247-263.
    12. Costantini, Valeria & Crespi, Francesco & Palma, Alessandro, 2017. "Characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco-innovation: A patent analysis of energy-efficient technologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 799-819.
    13. Borghesi, Simone & Cainelli, Giulio & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2015. "Linking emission trading to environmental innovation: Evidence from the Italian manufacturing industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 669-683.
    14. Cainelli, Giulio & D’Amato, Alessio & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2015. "Adoption of waste-reducing technology in manufacturing: Regional factors and policy issues," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 53-67.
    15. Jung Yun Choi & Doo Bong Han, 2018. "The Links between Environmental Innovation and Environmental Performance: Evidence for High- and Middle-Income Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, June.
    16. Massimiliano Mazzanti & Giovanni Marin & Susanna Mancinelli & Francesco Nicolli, 2015. "Carbon dioxide reducing environmental innovations, sector upstream/downstream integration and policy: evidence from the EU," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(4), pages 709-735, November.
    17. Orsatti, Gianluca & Quatraro, Francesco & Pezzoni, Michele, 2020. "The antecedents of green technologies: The role of team-level recombinant capabilities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    18. Jana Hojnik, 2017. "In Pursuit of Eco-innovation," UPP Monograph Series, University of Primorska Press, number 978-961-7023-53-4.
    19. Aoife Hanley & Finn Ole Semrau, 2022. "Stepping up to the mark? Firms’ export activity and environmental innovation in 14 European countries," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(5), pages 672-700, May.
    20. Weizhou Su & Gaowen Lei & Sidai Guo & Hongche Dan, 2022. "Study on the Influence Mechanism of Environmental Management System Certification on Enterprise Green Innovation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-20, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:mgtdec:v:44:y:2023:i:4:p:1978-1994. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/7976 .

    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.