The regional environmental benefits and heterogeneity of eco-innovation networks: Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

Constructing Eco-Innovation networks is an effective way to improve innovation capabilities and drive high-quality development. It constructs an indicator system for measuring the environmental benefits of cities at the prefecture level. We quantitatively measure the environmental benefits of cities using the super-efficiency SBM model. Using the PVAR model, we explore the long-term dynamic relationship between eco-Innovation networks and urban environmental benefits. The analysis finds that: ①For core node cities in the eco-Innovation networks, the network has a positive impact on their environmental benefits, but this effect is irregular in the long term. The positive effect of environmental benefits from core node cities on the eco-Innovation networks is weak, smaller than the impact of the networks on the environmental benefits of core node cities. ②For sub-core node cities in the eco-Innovation networks, the network has a strong and sustained positive impact on their environmental benefits, and this impact deepens over time. However, the environmental benefits of sub-core node cities have a short-term negative impact on the eco-Innovation networks. ③For peripheral node cities in the eco-Innovation networks, there is a small mutual promotion between the networks and the environmental benefits of peripheral cities, with both maintaining stability and having minimal mutual influence.