Research on Green Finance, Technological Innovation, and Industrial Structure Upgrading in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thankyou for giving me an opportunity to review the paper. The paper can accepted after incorporating the suggested changes given below:

1. Hypothetical clarity is given but theoretical justification needs to be beefed up

2. Recent studies need to be cited from quality journals like resources policy, energy Policy, economic research letters, environmental science and pollution research any many more.

3. How the results of this study can be generalized to other similar economic zones?

Good Luck.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The abstract must be structured: Purpose: (text...); Results and contributions: (text...); Methodology: (text...); Gap: (text...); Relevance: (text...); Impact: (text...).

Significant of the paper:

This paper contains sufficiently new and significant knowledge. The purpose of the investigation is relevant.

Literature:

The paper is well related to previous literature. The author demonstrates extensive knowledge of previous studies. The author should do an additional task of searching for recent work and incorporating innovative arguments in his research.

Methodology: 

The research method is appropriate and is built on the basis of the previous work through surveys.

Results:

The research results are presented clearly and are similar to those obtained in the previous literature.

Implications for research:  

The implications for China’s practice and society is very relevant. The country's problems are still others.

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This paper presented a well-structured research paper that investigates the relationship between green finance, technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrading in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The paper's empirical research used fixed effect models to examine the mechanism of action among these factors. The study's findings suggest that both green finance and technological innovation significantly contribute to industrial structure upgrading in the YREB, with green finance acting as an intermediary by enhancing technological innovation capacity. The study also identifies regional heterogeneity in the impact of these factors on industrial structure upgrading in the YREB. Overall, the paper provides practical guidance for the restructuring and transformation of industries in the YREB, making it a valuable contribution to the theoretical research domain of industrial structure upgrading. This work is interesting, however, some questions need to be revised as follows:

Comments and Suggestions for improvement:

1. The original contributions need to be much better presented in the last paragraph of section “INTRODUCTION”. All improvements, if they

are, and new results must be described in this paragraph. The advantages of the work are not discussed in the text. Indeed, introduction needs to enrich

the readers with state-of-the-art works, which gives the reader a clear vision of the gap that those studies have not addressed and covered in this study.

2. A brief description of the structure (layout) of the paper may be added to the end of the Introduction. What makes the proposed method suitable

for this unique task? What new development to the proposed method have the authors added (compared to the existing approaches)? These points

should be clarified. 

3. The Abstract should modified by adding advantages of the proposed method.

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4. The English style must be revised because there are some typos must be corrected.

5. What is the novelty of the work and where does it go beyond previous efforts in the literature?

6. In general, the typeset equations should be regarded as parts of a sentence and treated accordingly with the appropriate grammatical conven-

tion and punctuation.

7. All acronyms should be defined before.

8.  What specific industries in the YREB were studied in this research paper?

 

9. Can you explain the mechanism of action between green finance and technological innovation in contributing to industrial structure upgrading in the YREB?

 

10. How does regional heterogeneity affect the impact of green finance and technological innovation on industrial structure upgrading in the YREB?

 

11. What practical guidance does this research paper provide for the restructuring and transformation of industries in the YREB?

 

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Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Dear Authors, 

Thank You for the relevant Article.

The main focus of the research in this article is to examine the mechanisms of action among green finance (GF), technological innovation (TI), and industrial structure upgrading (ISU) in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) in China. Specifically, the article aims to:

1. Explore the roles and relationships between GF, TI, and ISU in promoting sustainable development in the YREB.
2. Construct fixed effect regression models to analyze the impact of GF and TI on ISU using panel data from 11 provinces/cities along the YREB from 2011-2020.
3. Investigate whether TI plays an intermediary role between GF and ISU.
4. Analyze regional heterogeneity in the effects of GF and TI on ISU across different parts (eastern, central, western) of the YREB.
5. Provide policy recommendations based on the research findings to promote the coordinated development of GF, TI, and ISU in the YREB.

 

In summary, the main focus is on examining the influence mechanisms and relationships between green finance, technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrading for sustainable development in China's Yangtze River Economic Belt region.

The article identifies two main research gaps:

1. Research gap: Most existing academic studies on industrial structure upgrading (ISU) have not looked at it from the perspectives of green finance (GF) and technological innovation (TI). Most research also focuses on a single region rather than comparative analysis across multiple regions.
2. Research gap: The mechanism underlying the connection between technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading is still not well understood, with relatively few relevant academic studies and research methods.

In terms of scientific novelty, the article claims the following novel contributions:

1. It is the first study to incorporate GF, TI, and ISU into a unified research framework to examine their mechanisms of influence.
2. It widens the theoretical research domain of industrial structure upgrading by analyzing it from the new perspectives of GF and TI.
3. It examines the direct impacts of GF and TI on ISU and investigates the potential mediating role of TI.
4. It conducts a comparative analysis of regional differences in the effects of GF and TI on ISU across different parts of the YREB, providing new insights.
5. The research conclusions and policy recommendations fill gaps in understanding the coordinated development of GF, TI and ISU for sustainable development.

The research gap lies in the lack of studies analyzing the relationships between GF, TI, and ISU using a unified framework. The novelty is integrating these factors and conducting comparative regional analysis, which advances theoretical understanding and policy guidance.

In terms of methodology, the article employs the following approaches:

1. Data sources: The main data comes from various Chinese government statistical yearbooks and databases covering 2011-2020 for 11 provinces/cities along the YREB.
2. The green finance evaluation system uses the entropy value method to objectively assign weights to indicators and construct a composite index to measure green finance levels.
3. Model setting: It establishes four fixed effects regression models to examine: the impact of GF on ISU; the impact of TI on ISU; the impact of GF on TI; and the potential mediating role of TI.
4. Variable definition: It clearly defines the variables used - GF composite index, TI measured by R&D expenditure/GDP, ISU measured by the added value of strategic emerging industries/GDP, and control variables.
5. Descriptive analysis: It provides descriptive statistics to analyze trends in key variables.
6. Hausman test uses the Hausman test to determine whether to use fixed or random effects models.
7. Robustness test: It conducts a one-period lag robustness test on core explanatory variables.
8. Regional analysis: It separately analyzes the eastern, central, and western parts of the YREB to examine regional heterogeneity.
9. Comparative analysis: It compares regression coefficients to investigate the potential mediating role of TI.

 

The methodology utilizes appropriate data sources, model specifications, and statistical/econometric techniques to test the research hypotheses and objectives empirically.

The Article is adequately referenced. 

However I'd like to make some recommendations.

The article does not explicitly consider or analyze the achievement of ESG (environmental, social and governance) goals. Some related points:

• The focus is on examining the mechanisms between green finance, technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrading, aiming to promote sustainable development.
• Industrial structure upgrading is analyzed using indicators like the added value of strategic emerging industries, which can indirectly reflect progress on environmental goals by transitioning to greener industries.
• Green finance is measured based on indicators like environmental protection expenditure relevant to environmental goals.
• Technological innovation is considered important for driving industrial upgrading and transitioning to cleaner production, supporting environmental goals.
• The policy recommendations aim to promote coordinated development of green finance, technology and industry upgrading, which could help achieve sustainability goals.

However, the article does not explicitly establish ESG/sustainability goals or indicators, nor does it directly assess the impact of the analyzed relationships on achieving specific environmental, social or governance targets over time.

 

The focus is more on examining the economic mechanisms rather than conducting a comprehensive evaluation of progress on predefined ESG goals resulting from policies/actions in the studied domains. So a direct consideration of ESG goal achievement is beyond this research's main scope and objectives.

The Authors also could make some scientific recommendations in the conclusion.

English is fine.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx