Digital infrastructure construction, diversified environmental regulation, and dual control of urban carbon emissions-quasi-natural experiment from "broadband China" strategy.

This study used three batches of "broadband China" strategies (BCS) implemented from 2014 to 2016 as quasi-natural experiments (QE) to distinguish the level of urban digital infrastructure construction (DIC). Using 231 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019 as research samples, a progressive differences-in-differences (DID) model was used to empirically test the relationship characteristics between DIC and urban carbon emission (CE) total and intensity. The results show that (1) DIC has a significant negative correlation with total carbon emissions (TCE) and carbon emission intensity (CI), which is conducive to the "dual control" of urban CE, which is still valid after the five robustness tests. (2) The mechanism test shows that the DIC is conducive to improving the level of formal environmental regulation (FER) and informal environmental regulation (IER) and strengthening the synergy between formal and informal environmental regulation (ER), so as to achieve "dual control" of carbon emissions, of which the synergy is the most significant, followed by FER. (3) In heterogeneity research findings, only the third batch of pilot projects can achieve "dual control" of CE, which has the advantage of latecomers. The "dual control" effect of carbon emissions in DIC is more significant in cities with higher levels of marketization and eastern cities. Therefore, DIC plays the role of "icing on the cake," not "providing charcoal in the snow."

Decoupling Analysis of Rural Population Change and Rural Electricity Consumption Change in China.

With the accelerated development of urbanization in China, rural permanent population has declined, while rural electricity consumption has increased, resulting in a significant waste of electricity resources. Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2007 to 2020, this paper comprehensively used the decoupling model and the coordination degree model to analyze the temporal change characteristics, spatial distribution characteristics, and the degree of deviation of rural permanent population and rural electricity consumption. Firstly, according to the decoupling model, the type of decoupling between rural electricity consumption and rural permanent population was strong negative decoupling. At the provincial level, Beijing and Tibet belonged to expanding negative decoupling. Tianjin and Liaoning belonged to recession link. The other 27 provinces, including Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong, belonged to strong negative decoupling. Secondly, according to the coordination degree model, the coordination type of the national rural permanent population and rural electricity consumption was uncoordinated. The areas that can be coordinated include 20 provinces, including Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, and Jiangxi. The basic coordination areas included Beijing and Tibet. Finally, according to the comprehensive measurement model, the provinces with strong negative decoupling included Shanxi, Zhejiang, and Chongqing. Sichuan, Hebei, Shandong, and Shaanxi belonged to moderately strong negative decoupling groups.