Does the Mobilization of Economic Growth Targets Aggravate Haze Pollution? — Research Based on Prefecture-level Cities in China

Currently, high-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country, and the relationship between economic growth target and environmental protection target is the proper meaning of high-quality development. Based on the panel data set of 223 cities at or above the prefecture level, this paper explores the problem of haze pollution from the perspective of economic growth target mobilization. The research results show that from the national level, the mobilization of economic growth target significantly increases the haze pollution; the strategy imitation of governments at the same level significantly increases the local haze pollution, and the target assessment of higher governments can effectively correct the governance preference of lower governments. The results of the heterogeneity analysis showed that the haze pollution effect mobilized by the economic growth target did not differ significantly between the prefecture-level cities with different administrative levels, but the effect was greater in the prefecture-level cities located in the eastern region and the prefecture-level cities with larger population size. Further analysis shows that the constraint intensity of target mobilization exacerbates the haze pollution effect of economic growth target mobilization, which is the result of the relaxation of environmental regulation intensity in the development model of local governments based on investment-driven growth. The specific reason is insufficient investment in pollution control. This study has positive policy implications to solve the "dilemma balance" between local government economic growth and environmental protection and to accelerate the transformation of economic development model.