Public Investment, Environmental Regulation, and the Sustainable Development of Agriculture in China Based on the Decomposition of Green Total Factor Productivity

Abstract

This study aims to accurately assess the growth of agricultural total factor productivity and its driving components under the constraints of resources and environment, and provides reliable information for agricultural policy formulation and agricultural development practices. According to the input and output panel data of provincial agricultural planting in China and employing the Global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) index method and the Bootstrap method, this paper measures China’s agricultural green total factor productivity (GTFP), technical efficiency change (EC), and technical best-practice gap change (BPC). In addition, the Tobit model is applied to analyze the impact of public investment and environmental regulation variables on China’s agricultural GTFP and its components. The results show that (1) China’s agricultural GTFP has steadily improved, and technological promotion is the main contributor; (2) agricultural GTFP and its components present significant spatial differences, which are overall manifested as agricultural priority development zone > agricultural moderate development zone > agricultural protection development zone; and (3) financing support of technical innovation and the intensity of environmental regulation have a significant positive impact on agricultural GTFP and its components. The combination of positive technical innovation support and appropriate environmental regulation helps to improve agricultural GTFP and achieve the sustainable development of China’s agriculture.