Income inequality, carbon emissions, and green development efficiency

Income inequality affects not only social well-being, health, and carbon emissions but also the strategy for green development in China. Based on the panel data of 205 cities in China from 2010 to 2020, a panel model with partial linear functional coefficient is used to analyze and test the relationship between income inequality, carbon emissions, and green development efficiency under different regional economic development levels. The empirical results show that the impact of income inequality on carbon emissions and green development efficiency is significant. The worsening of income inequality could aggravate carbon emissions, but the effect of income inequality on carbon emissions shows an increase–decrease-flattening with the continuous improvement of regional economic development. In terms of affecting the green development efficiency, the effect of income inequality on the efficiency of green development presents an inverted U shape. However, the number of cities where income inequality has an inhibitory effect on carbon emissions and green development efficiency has increased over time, and the impact of income inequality in a few cities on green development efficiency is not significant. These findings provide new insights into the understanding of shared prosperity and the strategy of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization in China.