| Abstract |
As the challenges of global climate change become increasingly severe, achieving the green transformation and sustainability of economic development has become the common goal of governments around the world. China, as one of the largest carbon-emitting countries in the world, the implementation of its carbon trading market policies is of great significance for promoting emissions reduction and driving the coordinated development of the economy, society, and environment. Based on the panel data of the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) constructed for 30 provincial-level units in China from 2009 to 2017, this paper uses the Stata tool and the multi-time-point difference-in-differences method (MDID) to evaluate the impact of Chinas carbon trading market policies on sustainable economic welfare. Robustness tests have been conducted on this result, and it shows that the benchmark regression model in this paper is robust and statistically significant. Meanwhile, this paper also conducts research on the regional heterogeneity and impact mechanism of carbon trading policies, and draws the following conclusions: The carbon trading policy has significantly improved the sustainable economic welfare in the pilot areas, and the eastern region, due to its solid economic foundation, abundant resources, and advanced production technologies and processes, has benefited the most from the policy. The interaction between the maturity of the industrial structure and the urbanization process and the carbon trading policy has a significant positive impact on sustainable economic welfare. This indicates that the optimization of the industrial structure and the improvement of the urbanization level are important factors in promoting the growth of sustainable economic welfare. Based on the results obtained from the empirical research, this paper also puts forward a series of policy optimization suggestions, aiming to provide quantitative tools for policymakers to evaluate and optimize existing policies and promote the harmonious coexistence of society, economy, and environment.
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