The development of digital financial inclusion has added a new vitality to economic growth, and environmental regulation is an important tool to achieve sustainable economic growth. Therefore, whether there is a synergistic effect between these two factors of economic growth is a topic worth exploring. This paper uses the space econometric model and threshold model to explore the impact of digital financial inclusion and environmental regulation on regional economic growth using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces, collected between 2011 and 2019. The research results prove that the development of digital financial inclusion and the improvement in the intensity of environmental regulation have a significant direct promotion effect and negative spatial spillover effect on regional economic growth. Moreover, the two have a significant synergistic effect on regional economic growth. A panel threshold analysis showed that, with the improvement in the level of digital financial inclusion, the regression coefficient of environmental regulation changed from negative to positive, which played a significant role in promoting regional economic growth. The heterogeneity analysis found that digital inclusive finance in eastern regions of China plays a greater role in promoting the economy, whereas environmental regulation in the central region plays a greater role in promoting the economy. The synergy between the two in the central region greatly promotes economic development. When digital inclusive finance is used as the threshold variable, environmental regulation in eastern and western regions has a single-threshold effect on regional economic development. Based upon these research results, this paper proposes that a coordination mechanism between digital financial inclusion and environmental regulation should be established to give full play to their synergies in sustainable economic growth.
Environmental regulation is a crucial tool for controlling environmental pollution. Digital finance is essential for the development of green finance. The relationship between environmental regulation and digital finance concerning environmental pollution is an issue worth exploring. This paper uses the spatial econometric model and the panel threshold model to empirically analyze the impact of environmental regulation and digital financial inclusion on environmental pollution using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2019. It mainly discusses the independent impact and synergy of environmental regulation and digital inclusive finance on environmental pollution. The research results show that the improvement of the intensity of environmental regulation and the development level of digital-inclusive finance can effectively alleviate the problem of environmental pollution. Moreover, environmental regulation and digital inclusive finance can coordinately control environmental pollution. A panel threshold analysis shows that as the intensity of environmental regulation increases, digital financial inclusion will reflect the function of environmental governance. Similarly, with the development of digital financial inclusion, environmental regulation has shown a significant inhibitory effect on environmental pollution. The results of a heterogeneity analysis show that the intensity of environmental regulation in the eastern region has a significant inhibitory effect on environmental pollution. Digital financial inclusion in the central region shows a strong environmental governance function. The intersection of environmental regulation and digital financial inclusion has shown a significant synergistic governance effect in the eastern region. Therefore, the government gives full play to the functions of environmental regulation and digital inclusive finance environmental governance to achieve coordinated governance of environmental pollution.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.