First, this study aims to study the impact of environmental regulation on ecological efficiency through the city’s capacity for “policy perception-resource adjustment-institutional reconstruction”; second, the regulatory role of the urban innovation system in this context.
Based on the improved Super-SBM model, this paper measures the ecological efficiency of 284 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2021, and utilizes the spatial Durbin model to explore the different impacts of two types of environmental regulations, command-control and market-based incentive, on China’s ecological efficiency, and further examines the effect of technological innovation on the ecological efficiency.
The study found the following: (1) The overall ecological efficiency of Chinese cities exhibits a gradual increase; (2) there exists an “inverted U-shaped” correlation between command-control environmental regulation and market-based incentive environmental regulation concerning ecological efficiency; (3) Command-control environmental regulation exhibits a substantial positive spatial spillover effect, whereas market-based incentive environmental regulation demonstrates a negative spatial spillover effect. (4) Technological innovation exerts a dual negative moderating influence on the relationship between environmental regulation and ecological efficiency; (5) The efficacy of environmental regulation instruments differs based on city characteristics.
Theoretically, it employs urban dynamic governance theory to elucidate the spatial heterogeneity of China’s environmental regulation, and highlights the critical role of urban governance capacity in the dissemination of environmental regulation effects. Methodologically, it overcomes traditional ecological efficiency limitations by integrating forest ecosystem area as a key input and ecosystem service value (ESV)—refined through regulatory factor—as the core output, enhancing evaluation rigor. Findings reveal differential impacts of regulatory mechanisms on urban adaptability, providing theoretical grounding for establishing “precision governance” systems aligned with cities’ developmental stages.
