The Impact of Environmental Regulations, Corruption and Economic Freedom on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from China

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of environmental regulations, corruption and economic freedom on economic growth in China. Different indices were used as measurements of the variables; Environmental Policy Stringency Index, Control of Corruption Index and Economic Freedom of the World Index. The study uses quantitative methods to empirically determine which factors play a role in China’s progressive economic growth rates. Unit root test, Johansen cointegration and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) modelling were applied to examine the short and long run correlations. Results indicated that there is in fact a correlation between environmental regulations, corruption, economic freedom and economic growth. Long run coefficients demonstrated that environmental regulations had a negative impact on economic growth, while corruption and economic freedom displayed positive results. However, short run coefficients showed that environmental regulation is insignificant in the short run, corruption maintains a positive impact and economic freedom negatively effects economic growth in the short run.