Circular Economy, Open Innovation, and Green Innovation: Empirical Evidence From Prefecture-Level Cities in China
研究中国循环经济试点政策对绿色专利申请的影响，发现政策显著促进绿色创新，机制包括提升政府对科技的关注和促进经济集聚，且效果在南方、发达、教育资源丰富及资源依赖度低的城市更明显。
In this paper, we explore whether and how circular economy policies stimulate green innovation. At the dawn of this century, China launched the circular economy pilot policy (CEPP). Using the panel data of 284 Chinese prefectures, we estimate the effect of this pilot policy on green patent applications. Our findings indicate a significant positive effect of CEPP on green patent applications, including green invention patents and green utility model patents. Mechanism analysis shows that CEPP significantly increases government attention on science and technology and promotes economic agglomeration, which further provides a more conducive environment for market entities to innovate through open innovation. Further heterogeneous analysis reveals that the impact of CEPP on green innovation is greater in southern and developed cities, cities with greater education resources, and cities that are less dependent on natural resource endowments.