赵亚楠1 李京梅1? 逯进[2]

Can human capital reduce environmental pollution in the Yangtze River Economic Belt?-- The moderating effect of technological innovation

摘要:

长江经济带横跨中国东中西三大区域，是关系到国家发展全局的重大战略区域。目前，在生态文明建设的大背景下，“共抓大保护、不搞大开发”是长江经济带建设的重要导向。文章基于2003-2020年长江经济带108个地级市数据，分析了人力资本和技术创新对环境污染的影响，重点探讨了技术创新对人力资本影响环境污染的调节效应及传导途径。主要结论为:第一，长江经济带的人力资本对环境污染的影响具有倒U型特征，人力资本水平越高越有助于降低环境污染；第二，技术创新能够降低环境污染，且技术创新对人力资本与环境污染之间的倒U型关系呈现正向调节作用；第三，机制分析表明，在技术创新的调节作用下，人力资本对环境污染的影响可以通过“产业结构升级效应”以及“污染光环效应”发挥作用；第四，异质性分析表明，长江经济带三大城市群环境污染的改善因人力资本、技术创新水平的不同而存在差异。据此，长江经济带可在持续改善人力资本结构和适应性技术创新的基础上，充分优化并有效促进产业结构升级和吸收优质外资，以此持续改善本地区的环境污染。

Abstract:

The Yangtze River Economic Belt spans the three major regions of China's east, west, and west, and is a major strategic area related to the overall development of the country. At present, in the context of the construction of ecological civilization, "together with great protection and no major development" is an important guide for the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Based on the data of 108 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2003 to 2020, the article analyzes the impact of human capital and technological innovation on environmental pollution, and focuses on the regulatory effects and transmission channels of technological innovation on human capital and environmental pollution. The main conclusions are: first, the impact of human capital on environmental pollution in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is U-shaped, and the higher the level of human capital, the more it helps to reduce environmental pollution; second, technological innovation can reduce environmental pollution, and technological innovation has the inverted U-shaped relationship between human capital and environmental pollution shows a positive regulatory effect. Third, the mechanism analysis shows that under the regulatory effect of technological innovation, the impact of human capital on environmental pollution can be achieved through the "industrial structure upgrading effect" and " "The pollution halo effect" plays a role. Fourth, heterogeneity analysis shows that the improvement of environmental pollution in the three major urban agglomerations of the Yangtze River Economic Belt differs depending on the level of human capital and technological innovation. Based on this, the Yangtze River Economic Belt can continue to improve the environmental pollution of the Yangtze River Economic Belt by continuously optimizing and effectively promoting the upgrading of the industrial structure and absorbing high-quality foreign capital on the basis of continuously improving the human capital structure and adaptive technological innovation.