Technology or Institutions: Which Is the Source of Green Economic Growth in Chinese Cities?

To relax the increasingly tight resource and environmental constraints on development, China needs to follow a pattern of growth that comprehensively encompasses economic growth, environmental protection, and resource conservation, namely, green economic growth. The key to achieving green economic growth is to improve green total factor productivity, of which technological innovation and institutional innovation are the primary driving forces. Based on the panel data of 266 cities in China from 2004 to 2018, this paper first uses the Directional Distance Function and Global Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index to measure the urban green total factor productivity to represent urban green economic growth; then, the impact of technological innovation and institutional innovation on urban green economic growth is studied by using the panel Granger causality test and SYS-GMM dynamic panel model. The results are described as follows: China’s urban green total factor productivity shows an increasing trend from 2004 to 2018, and the average growth rate of green total factor productivity is 3.27%, which is far lower than the average GDP growth rate of 9.14%; both technological innovation and institutional innovation can significantly promote the growth of the urban green economy, but institutional innovation has a greater role in promoting the growth of the urban green economy than technological innovation. In addition, the relationship between institutional innovation and urban green economic growth is more stable.