Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Green technology innovation (GTI) plays a pivotal role in mitigating global climate change and advancing environmental sustainability. Economic complexity, which reveals the diversity and sophistication of economic structures, provides a novel analytical perspective for improving the GTI. This research explores the potential influence of economic complexity on GTI advancement. This study constructs a dual fixed effects model to empirically analyze the influence of economic complexity on GTI, using panel data from 288 Chinese cities over the period 2000-2016. The results show that economic complexity significantly promotes GTI. On average, a 1% increase in economic complexity leads to a 1.84% increase in GTI. In addition, the impact of economic complexity is heterogeneous, with cities in less developed regions and central-western areas deriving greater marginal benefits from economic complexity growth. Additionally, we find that economic complexity can promote GTI through knowledge spillover and industrial structure upgrading. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the increase in economic complexity drives the "quantity-and-quality improvement" of GTI. Finally, using data sourced from China's A-share listed companies, we provide micro-level evidence of the connection between economic complexity and the GTI.
Source: Scientific Reports
Authors: Xiang Ruan, Shanlang Lin, Junpei Huang, Chenghan Li
Institutions: Shanghai Normal University, Tongji University
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,690
Awards: G166428684, G389967587, G534027026, G6525951852
OpenAlex ID: W4416225729