Impact of environmental regulations on the efficient control of industrial pollution in China

The continuous progress of industrialization is a fundamental cause of China’s increasingly severe environmental pollution problem. Improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control is an inevitable choice to effectively decrease pollution emissions, thus winning the battle of pollution prevention and control. In this paper, we used the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model to measure the provincial efficiency of industrial pollution control based on the input and output data of industrial pollution control of 29 administrative provinces in China from 2000 to 2017. On this basis, a spatial econometric model was used to explore the influence of environmental regulation intensity on the efficiency of industrial pollution control. In addition, the spatial spillover effect of pollution reduction was thoroughly examined. The results show that: (1) The efficiency of industrial pollution control in China has improved year by year, but the overall efficiency is still low, with the average value increasing from 0.165 in 2000 to 0.309 in 2017. Furthermore, there is significant regional heterogeneity with the highest efficiency level in the east and lowest efficiency level in the west. (2) By increasing the financial and material input, the efficiency of industrial pollution control has increased. However, the increase of human input has not been so helpful. (3) The global Moran’s I index is significantly greater than zero, indicating a strong spatial correlation and agglomeration in the efficiency of industrial pollution control, which is reflected in high–high agglomeration in the eastern region and low–low agglomeration in the western region. (4) Stringent environmental regulation has a positive effect on improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control. It also imposes a positive spatial spillover effect, indicating a strategic interaction and coordination of regional pollution control. In line with this, related proposals have been made to optimize the investment structure for environmental pollution control, establish a flow mechanism for the factor market, and strengthen the environmental responsibility awareness of state-owned enterprises. On this basis, we expect to provide a policy for improving the efficiency of industrial pollution control and promoting regional joint pollution control in China