Relationship Between Environmental Regulation and Water Pollution in China -Based on the Perspective of Green Total Factor Productivity

Based on the water pollution emission volume of 30 provinces in China from 2004 to 2018 and the temporal and spatial correlation of water pollution, this paper uses the spatial panel model and threshold regression method to incorporate environmental regulations, green total factor productivity and water pollution intensity into the one research framework, to have an experience identification of the key factors affecting water pollution. The results show that: there are apparent spatial spillover and high emission regional clusters in Chinese provinces. Government supervision and market regulation can substantially reduce pollution emissions, while how to mitigate environmental problems through green total factor productivity require government and market regulation guidance. Through the threshold regression, it is proved that the government control-and-command mode performs the optimal action range, for the emission reduction effect gradually converges as the enhancement of regulatory intensifies, yet the promotion effect of the two kinds of regulatory measures will be strengthened with the improvement of green total factor productivity. Therefore, solving water pollution depends on unremitting efforts and joint control to prevent the snowball effect and leakage. The key to pollution reduction lies in the joint-effort of green technology progress and high energy efficiency to achieve green development goals.