关键词: 生态产业化, 生态产品价值实现, 绿色金融, 人力资本, 空间溢出效应

Abstract:

Realizing the value of ecological products is a crucial step in putting the idea that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”. This is achieved by translating the final products and services provided by the ecosystems for human well-being into quantifiable economic values, which requires maintaining ecosystem stability and sustainability. Mechanisms such as ecological restoration, ecological compensation, ecological resource trading, and market-based management are used to maintain ecosystem stability and sustainability and to establish a stable mechanism for economic returns. Ecological industrialization has become a new force driving the realization of ecological product value, which is crucial to the green development process. Ecological industrialization, leverages ecological features to provide industrial support and a market foundation for realizing the value of ecological products. On the one hand, a rational industrialization layout enhances regional production and living functions, and creates the conditions necessary for creating economic value from ecological resources. Conversely, actively fostering and supporting market players in ecological industrialization can increase capital support for developing ecological resources from a capital perspective, increasing efficiency when increasing the value of ecological products. Additionally, ecological industrialization is a component of economic activities that are often regionally interdependent. Barriers to the flow of various factors between regions gradually diminish when market mechanisms and incentives are implemented. Ecological industrialization activities promote the realization of ecological product value both locally and in the surrounding regions through the flow of various factors, technological diffusion, and market integration, demonstrating a significant spatial spillover effect. Furthermore, green finance and human capital play crucial moderating roles in the ecological industrialization process to promote the realization of ecological product value. Green finance can be used to establish reasonable market values for ecological products and provide the necessary financial support to realize the value of these products, which then attracts more financial capital that can be invested in related projects. Human capital increases green technological innovation and resource conversion efficiency through knowledge, skills, and innovation capabilities, accelerating ecological industrialization and contributing to the realization of ecological product value. A theoretical foundation and practical path have been establised to understand how ecological industrialization drives the realization of ecological product value. However, studies have mainly been theoretical or focused on case analyses, and empirical investigations into the specific mechanisms and extent of the impact of ecological industrialization on the realization of ecological product value are limited. Analyses of the pathways between ecological industrialization and the realization of ecological product value have been simplistic, with little attention paid to the roles of key factors, such as green finance, human capital allocation, and geographic location. Therefore, the impact of ecological industrialization on ensuring ecological product value must be studied to promote sustainable regional development and ecological civilization construction. We empirically examined the mechanism through which ecological industrialization affects the realization of ecological product value using panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2007 to 2022 and provided quantitative support for their relationship. First, a fixed-effects model was used to determine the direct impact of ecological industrialization on the realization of ecological product value, and regional heterogeneity was analyzed to reveal the differences among different regions. Second, a moderating effect model was employed to examine the moderating roles of green finance and human capital levels in the process through which ecological industrialization promotes ecological product value realization. Finally, a spatial Durbin model is used to test the spatial spillover effects of ecological industrialization development on the value realization of ecological products to evaluate the dispersion and influence of ecological industrialization development in the region. The findings showed that 1) ecological industrialization positively impacted the realization of ecological product value after considering other influencing variables. The realization of ecological product value increased by approximately 3.35% for every 0.1 increase in the level of ecological industrialization. This conclusion remained valid after a series of robustness checks, indicating that ecological industrialization provides a foundation for ensuring and increasing the value of ecological product. 2) The results of the spatial heterogeneity analysis showed that the realization of ecological product values in the central and western regions increased by approximately 6.76% and 2.17%, respectively, with every 0.1 increase in the level of ecological industrialization. This suggests that ecological industrialization has a stronger impact on the realization of ecological product value in the central region than in the western region. However, ecological industrialization in the eastern region faces more market competition and resource allocation challenges owing to the higher level of economic development and maturity of market mechanisms. Thus, ecological industrialization did not notably impact the realization of ecological product value in the eastern region. 3) Green finance and human capital positively moderate the impact of ecological industrialization on the realization of ecological product value. Green finance had a stronger moderating effect than human capital. The estimated coefficients of the interaction terms between green finance and ecological industrialization and between human capital and ecological industrialization are 0.673 and 0.302, respectively. 4) Ecological industrialization has a strong spatial spillover effect on the realization of ecological product values. We further decomposed the total effect and found that the direct and indirect effect coefficients of ecological industrialization on the realization of ecological product value were significant at 0.333 and 0.930, respectively. This indicates that the positive effect of ecological industrialization on driving ecological product value in neighboring regions was stronger than its effect on the local ecological product value. Ecological industrialization can significantly promote the realization of the value of ecological products in an entire region. An efficient method for developing ecological industrialization should be devised by considering local conditions to further strengthen the effect of ecological industrialization on promoting the realization of ecological product value. The pivotal roles of green finance and human capital in ecological industrialization should be leveraged. Additionally, the spatial spillover effect of ecological industrialization should be fully exploited to form the linkage development of inter-regional green industrial chains and promote synergistic regional development.

Key words: ecological industrialization, realization of ecological products value, green finance, human capital, spatial spillover effect