Research on the Impact and Spillover Effect of Green Agricultural Reform Policy Pilot on Governmental Environmental Protection Behaviors Based on Quasi-Natural Experiments of China’s Two Provinces from 2012 to 2020

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article uses the DID model to test the impact of green agricultural reform policies. The questions posed in the article are relatively scientific, the research methods are appropriate, and the findings have some practical value. The following problems in the article need to be noted.

 

(1) The introduction should emphasize the role of the government's environmental behavior and answer the question of why the government's environmental behavior should be discussed.

(2) Since the discussion is about the impact of green agriculture pilot policies on government behavior, logically, the literature review section should discuss the green agriculture-related researches first, and then the government behavior-related researches.

(3) The literature review section should focus on studies related to governmental environmental behavior and outline the mechanisms by which green agriculture reform policies may affect influence governmental environmental behavior and present the issues to be discussed.

(4) Questions raised in the theoretical rationale, such as have pilot projects played a leading and demonstrative role in the modernization of green agriculture in China? Whether universal experiences and practices have been gained through the establishment of pilot zones in the process of promoting a full range of green agricultural development reform projects, etc., are not discussed empirically in the text by the author, and it is suggested that the relevant discussion be deleted. the relevant discussion needs to be deleted in 3.2.2 as well

(5) In order to serve the green agriculture pilot policy, government departments will inevitably increase the corresponding inputs. The author should focus on exploring the heterogeneity of this impact and discussing its causes.

(6) The text does not match the topic. Government environmental investment is a government behavior, but the efficiency of government economic governance is not an behavior, but the result of an behavior.

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript is of interest in the areas of environmental protection and sustainable agriculture. The authors conducted this research on the behavior of environmental protection and the development of green agriculture following China’s agricultural development goals. The manuscript is in the scope of the Sustainability Journal, however, minor improvement is required. The sections of the research manuscript should be described as Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, to simplify the process of reading the manuscript. The aims and objectives should be clearly stated at the end of the Introduction section. Even if not mandatory, a brief conclusion section is required because the discussion needs to be shortened.

Abbreviations should be specified when they are first mentioned.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This is a well-written and informative paper. It also uses sound economic theory and econometrics. However, I have the following suggestions to make the paper airtight:

(i) To avoid confusing readers, Sections 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 should start with the hypotheses themselves.

(ii) Create a sampling sub-section within the Research Design Section to clearly indicated sampling and sampling methods, and how the cities of Zhejang and Jiangsu were selected.

(iii) What do you mean by similar levels of urban development? How does similar level of urban development look like on the ground?

(iv) Control variables were used in this study which is good. However, there is a need to clearly explain what these variables were controlling for?

Author Response

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Reviewer 4 Report

This study discussed the impact of national green agricultural pilot zone policy on the environmental protection behavior. For this purpose, the authors compared the differences between Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces in this respect based on DID model and panel data. In general, the research entry point and empirical analysis are interesting and reasonable. Here are some of my concerns.

 

1) Abstract: After introducing the general context, it is inappropriate to directly point out the research topic and conclusion just by talking about the differences between the two provinces. It is necessary to point out the specific research gaps, on the core point? or methods? It may be more necessary to point out the deficiencies of the core point of view.

2) Keywords: “Zhejiang” should be “Zhejiang province”

3) Introduction: It is not appropriate to start directly from the national strategy. It is suggested to start from the academic perspective of climate change and human-natural relationship, such as SDG.

4) Introduction: It is better not to list previous studies in the literature review, but to summarize the research gaps.

5) Introduction: Since this study mainly uses panel data and DID model, it is suggested to add a summary or brief introduction on this aspect in the introduction to indicate its application basis.

6) Section 2: Too many italic fonts. It is recommended to use abbreviations instead.

7) Section 6: The conclusion is best placed after the discussion.

8) Rest: The part of econometrics is not my expertise. You and other reviewers may need to carefully confirm its rationality. I suggest that experimental data, significance test and other data should be placed in the appendix for self-verification.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.docx

Author Response

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