The Nonlinear Influence of Environmental Regulation on the Transformation and Upgrading of Industrial Structure

This paper measures the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure from two aspects of rationalization and upgrading of industrial structure, and empirically analyzes the impact of environmental regulation on industrial structure transformation and upgrading by using data of 29 provinces in China from 2004 to 2015. It was found that there is a significant nonlinear effect between environmental regulation and the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure. Specifically, environmental regulation is not conducive to the rational development of industrial structure, but with the continuous improvement of economic development level and human capital level, the inhibitory effect of environmental regulation on the rationalization of industrial structure is gradually weakened. The influence coefficient of environmental regulation on the rationalization of industrial structure is 0.0619 similar to 0.2648. Moreover, environmental regulation effectively drives the upgrading of industrial structure, and when the level of economic development and human capital are higher than the threshold, the role of environmental regulation in promoting the high development of industrial structure is gradually enhanced. The influence coefficient of environmental regulation on the upgrading of industrial structure is 0.0540 similar to 0.5626. Therefore, it is of great significance to formulate appropriate environmental regulation policies according to local conditions in the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure.