Results of western regression.

Adoption of clean electric energy depends not only on administrative regulations, but also on public support, in particular, the public is willing to pay for environmental improvements. However, the increase of solar photovoltaic power generation willingness to pay (WTP) associated with higher education attainment and the identification of their causality has been missing. Present paper used the enactment of the Compulsory Schooling Law as an instrumental variable to solve the causal relationship between education and willingness to pay for photovoltaic power generation. The results are as follows:Heckman two-stage model and instrumental variable both confirmed that higher education has a positive impact on WTP for solar photovoltaic power generation. For each level of public education in the east, the WTP of photovoltaic power generation will increase by 7.540 CNY, 8.343 CNY and 8.343 CNY respectively, the central public will increase by 9.637 CNY, 10.775 CNY and 11.758 CNY, and the western public will increase by 12.723 CNY, 15.740 CNY and 17.993 CNY respectively. The positive influence of education level is smaller among the people who know the ladder price better, but it is bigger among the people who are male, older than 45 years old, healthier, higher income and stronger awareness of safe electricity use. The total socio-economic value of photovoltaic power generation is significantly different in eastern, central and western region China.

清洁能源的推广应用不仅依赖行政规制，更离不开公众支持，尤其是公众愿意为环境改善支付成本的意愿。然而，当前学界尚未厘清受高等教育程度与太阳能光伏发电支付意愿（Willingness to Pay，WTP）提升之间的关联，亦未明确二者的因果关系。本研究以《义务教育法》的实施作为工具变量，旨在厘清教育水平与光伏发电支付意愿之间的因果关联。研究结果如下：赫克曼两阶段模型与工具变量法均证实，高等教育对公众的太阳能光伏发电支付意愿具有正向影响。东部地区公众的教育水平每提升一个层级，其光伏发电支付意愿将分别增加7.540元、8.343元与8.343元；中部地区公众对应增幅分别为9.637元、10.775元与11.758元；西部地区公众对应增幅则分别为12.723元、15.740元与17.993元。教育水平对光伏发电支付意愿的正向影响，在了解阶梯电价的群体中相对较弱；而在男性、45岁以上、健康状况更佳、收入更高且安全用电意识更强的群体中，该正向影响则更为显著。我国东、中、西部地区光伏发电的社会总经济价值存在显著差异。