Government governance, legal environment and sustainable economic development

Abstract

Based on China's inter-provincial panel data from 1999-2009, this paper has tested the impact and extent of marketization, government governance, and legal environment of sustainable economic development by controlling physical capital, human capital and productivity, so as to find the institutional reality for the difference in China's economic development and another explanation for it. It turns out that marketization, government governance, and legal environment play significant roles in promoting sustainable economic development. Further tests show that the results of Eastern China are consistent with China's inter-provincial results; while in Western China, the promotion effect of marketization, government governance, and legal environment on sustainable economic development is not significant. © 2014 by the authors.