抄録
China's economic growth has been extremely rapid in the past two decades, with an annual growth rate of about 10% in the last two decades. Subsequently, environmental problems are threatening China's sustainable future. Pollution damage is estimated to be around $54 billion annually and closed to 8 % of Chinese GDP. Policy makers in China are facing the tradeoffs between economic growth and environmental protection. Growth of total factor productivity (TFP) plays an important role in GDP growth in Chin. The costs of alternative production and pollution abatement technologies, which are influenced by TFP, are important determinants of the environmental compliance cost. Thus, it is important to understand the interaction between environmental regulation and technological/productivity change. In the long run, the most important single criterion on which to judge environmental policies might be the extent to which they spur new technology toward the efficient conservation of environmental quality. Most of the empirical studies in the literature, however, are focused on the analysis in developed countries, especially in US. To our knowledge, there are no existing studies that have estimated the efficiency of environmental technology and management, systematically analyzed its determinants, and assessed empirically the impact of environmental regulations on productivity in China. We employ and engineering and economic techniques and find that efficiency in Chinese environmental management is deteriorating. Estimated alternative policies are expected to improve its efficiency and productivity in China.
