Financial Geography, Carbon Emission Reduction, and County Economic Development
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https://doi.org/10.54097/v7n0cg68Keywords:
Financial accessibility, carbon emissions, county economic developmentAbstract
Promoting county-level economic development is a key task for achieving coordinated regional development, and the spatial pattern of financial resource allocation together with carbon emission constraints are two important factors affecting this process. Using county-level panel data of China from 2000 to 2019, this paper measures county economic development by nighttime light intensity, constructs county-level financial accessibility indicators based on geographical information of financial branches, and empirically examines the impact of financial accessibility on county development. It also investigates the moderating effect of carbon emissions and the mediating transmission mechanisms of technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading. The findings show that improved financial accessibility significantly promotes county economic development. This effect is more pronounced in counties with lower economic development levels and slower growth rates, but it is not significant in the short run in counties with extremely low initial financial accessibility. Carbon emissions negatively moderate the effect of financial accessibility, meaning that carbon emission pressure weakens the promoting effect of financial accessibility on county development. Technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading are two important mediating pathways through which financial accessibility indirectly drives county economic development. This paper provides new evidence for understanding county development gaps from the perspective of financial geography, reveals the complex mechanism of financial support for county development under carbon emission constraints, and offers policy implications for optimizing the layout of financial branches, implementing differentiated green credit policies, and promoting low-carbon transition at the county level.
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