The relationship between resource and environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness*

JIN Bei ( 金碚 )
Director General, Institute of Industrial Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Abstract:
The reason why materials on earth are divided into “resources” and “waste” is fundamentally dependent on the level
of industrial technology and the scale of industrial demand. The only viable option for humans to end their resource
and environmental predicament is to resolutely and efficiently push forward industrialization. At present, China’s
industrial development is still at a stage of severe resource and environmental deterioration. The fact that industrial
production activity is becoming cleaner does not mean that industrial production has reached the satisfactory level
of resource conservation and environmental protection. On the contrary, as China is still at the intermediate stage of
industrialization, it is imperative to go ahead with massive resource consumption amid heavy industrial developmen
China’s industrial production has led to severe resource waste and environmental pollution. Therefore, strengthening
resource and environmental regulation and enhancing regulatory effectiveness are still a very important, though
tough, issue for China to address in its industrialization process at the present time. The fundamental objectives of
government regulation of resources and the environment are: i) to realize the viable objective of resource conservation  and environmental protection; and ii) to maintain an effective order of fair competition. An effective and feasible way toward resource and environmental regulation is to realize the resource conservation and environmental protection policy objectives and help improve the long-term industrial and corporate competitiveness, with a special emphasis on boosting the international competitiveness of China’s industry under the rule of fair competition. Moderate and reasonable regulatory intensity requires imposing effective constraints on corporate behavior without going beyond th maximum level of affordability dictated by the current level of industrial and corporate competitiveness, with a speci focus on striking the right balance between the principles of economic efficiency and social benefits.
Key words:
Resource; Environment; Government regulation; Industrial competitiveness

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