A Study on the Impact of Fiscal Decentralization on Regional Green Development: A Perspective Based on the Emphasis on Sports

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper shows how fiscal decentralization, as an institutional arrangement, gives regional governments a strong incentive to develop their economies and can encourage regional governments to aim for a high degree of integration between environmental protection and economic development. It explores the relationship between fiscal decentralization, the degree of governmental emphasis on sports, and regional green sustainability building using Chinese provincial data.

1-For an international reader who is less familiar with the specific literature on the subject, it would be important, before identifying the positive impacts of fiscal decentralization, to rigorously define the concept of fiscal decentralization, what it implies and what are its characteristics. This is around line 65.

2- We suggest a modification of the term: line, 137 "The need for reforming China's economic system", for "The need for improving China's economic system".

3- Line 177 et seq.: It´s true that with increased fiscal autonomy, local governments will actively provide public services under the tax incentive target. This is because the improved quality of public services promotes market development, which in turn promotes more prosperous economic activities that generate greater tax revenues and thus sustainable regional economic development. Decentralization and regional autonomy have often been seen as an effective institutional setting to provide local public services efficiently and effectively. However, when we consider equality, cohesion, and transparency are considered safeguards of legitimacy and stability of the fiscal system and governance, we know that asymmetries may have a considerable impact on constitutional values, like we seen in multinational systems with federal arrangements. it another way, the assumption is that constitutional asymmetry may put at risk equality, cohesion, and transparency and therefore undermine the legitimacy and stability of a system. This leads us to a valid research objective, which is to provide a legal analysis of whether constitutional asymmetry is a condition for or a threat to equality in contemporary decentralized systems. The author should stress this principle.

4- The assignment of responsibility for the various types of service delivery must be transparent and clearly understood and agreed by all parties. Failure to do so results in the overlapping of publicly provided services. Clear assignment of responsibility for service provision limits co-sharing responsibilities, where more than one level of government gets involved in the same areas of spending. Co-sharing, while sometimes unavoidable, can lead to ambiguity which creates unnecessary coincidence in providing public services to local communities, and, in turn, negatively affects the efficiency of the spending programmes. It may even be used to intentionally confuse the responsibilities of each level of government. This may result in fiscal illusion – local citizens may misjudge the ‘true’ benefits and costs of their government.

5-Conclusions well done. The author could give examples of policy recommendations to fulfill the challenge posed in line 545.

 

Author Response

The paper shows how fiscal decentralization, as an institutional arrangement, gives regional governments a strong incentive to develop their economies and can encourage regional governments to aim for a high degree of integration between environmental protection and economic development. It explores the relationship between fiscal decentralization, the degree of governmental emphasis on sports, and regional green sustainability building using Chinese provincial data.

 

1-For an international reader who is less familiar with the specific literature on the subject, it would be important, before identifying the positive impacts of fiscal decentralization, to rigorously define the concept of fiscal decentralization, what it implies and what are its characteristics. This is around line 65.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have explained the fiscal decentralization in the appropriate place, as shown p.2 of our manuscript.

 

Fiscal expenditure, as one of the main means of government participation in regional construction [ Zhai, Z., Shan, M., & Le, Y. (2020). Investigating the impact of governmental governance on megaproject performance: evidence from China. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 26(2), 449-478.], is the key to promoting regional green sustainable development. Fiscal decentralization is an institutional arrangement that involves the transfer of fiscal powers from the central government to local governments. It aims to achieve a dispersion of political power at the national level and empower local governments with autonomy and responsibility in fiscal matters, enabling them to cater to diverse local needs and characteristics [ Oates, W. E. (1972). Fiscal Federalism. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.]. Fiscal decentralization is an essential element affecting regional government finance spending [ Janoušková, J., & Sobotovičová, Š. (2016). Immovable property tax in the Czech Republic as an instrument of fiscal decentralization. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 22(6), 767-782.] and has a crucial effect on regional green sustainable development [ Zou, X., Lei, C., Gao, K., & Hu, C. (2019). Impact of environmental decentralization on regional green development. The Journal of Environment & Development, 28(4), 412-441.]. To preferably act as part of fiscal decentralization in regional economic development, China has carried out a number of reforms involving the fiscal power relationship between central and local governments, mainly including "unified collection and centralization of expenditure" before the reform and opening up, "taxation instead of profit, taxation and profit sharing" after the start of the transition process, the fiscal lump-sum system in the 1980s, and the tax separation reform after 1994, which constitute the basic history of Chinese fiscal decentralization and have greatly influenced the development of society.

 

2- We suggest a modification of the term: line, 137 "The need for reforming China's economic system", for "The need for improving China's economic system". 

 

Thank you for your comments. We have revised the formulation of this sentence, as shown p.3 of our manuscript.

 

3- Line 177 et seq.: It´s true that with increased fiscal autonomy, local governments will actively provide public services under the tax incentive target. This is because the improved quality of public services promotes market development, which in turn promotes more prosperous economic activities that generate greater tax revenues and thus sustainable regional economic development. Decentralization and regional autonomy have often been seen as an effective institutional setting to provide local public services efficiently and effectively. However, when we consider equality, cohesion, and transparency are considered safeguards of legitimacy and stability of the fiscal system and governance, we know that asymmetries may have a considerable impact on constitutional values, like we seen in multinational systems with federal arrangements. it another way, the assumption is that constitutional asymmetry may put at risk equality, cohesion, and transparency and therefore undermine the legitimacy and stability of a system. This leads us to a valid research objective, which is to provide a legal analysis of whether constitutional asymmetry is a condition for or a threat to equality in contemporary decentralized systems. The author should stress this principle.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have added the appropriate content to our manuscript, as shown in p.4.

 

The assignment of responsibility for the various types of service delivery must be transparent and clearly understood and agreed by all parties. Failure to do so results in the overlapping of publicly provided services. Clear assignment of responsibility for service provision limits co-sharing responsibilities, where more than one level of government gets involved in the same areas of spending. Co-sharing, while sometimes unavoidable, can lead to ambiguity which creates unnecessary coincidence in providing public services to local communities, and, in turn, negatively affects the efficiency of the spending programmes. It may even be used to intentionally confuse the responsibilities of each level of government. This may result in fiscal illusion – local citizens may misjudge the ‘true’ benefits and costs of their government.

 

Thank you for your knowledgeable presentation. We have learned a lot through this topic, which will help to improve the related research, as shown in p.3.

 

5-Conclusions well done. The author could give examples of policy recommendations to fulfill the challenge posed in line 545.

 

Thank you for your comments. According to your suggestions, we have improved the content of the policy implications as shown p.14-15 of our manuscript.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The issue addressed in the paper discusses the fiscal decentralization in China in the context of the challenges of sustainable development, especially green, so-called “green" pressures.

First of all, I find that an important topic, compatible with the journal's scope, was considered.

I also recommend several corrections to improve the quality of this paper:

1)      Such studies are partially analysed in literature. It would be worth presenting the state of the art in a broader way. I suggest a more dilligent, comparative description of other scientific research from the literature (section 1 and 2).

2)      Please describe in more detail the selection of the dependent variable, and clearly characterize the extended model, based on the "gtfp" approach. This part of the paper is laconic, unclear.

3)      To improve the readability and description of tables (since they are the basis for analysis verification), supplement the history of their description, a clear and not laconic reference in the paper (in section 4).

Please remember that the formulated objectives - find a clear answer in the conclusion of the study. Is this really the way it works? Does the conclusion answer all the questions posed at the beginning of the paper (expressed in objectives and hypotheses)? It is also a great idea to present these most important [already sorted, synthetic] results in a clear way, for example graphically (table, diagram ?)… Please complete it and also correct it (section 5).

As a natural consequence of the changes made, the abstract will also be revised. In it, the essence of the study, i.e. what it is really about, should be indicated. Please also revise the title of the paper in this context: I recommend a change, appropriate to the content.

The language of this paper is relatively correct, however some descriptions would benefit from being more concise. I recommend that the authors cooperate with a native speaker to improve the text of the paper.

Dear Editors!

After making corrections that have been made appropriately, the work should be accepted.

Author Response

The issue addressed in the paper discusses the fiscal decentralization in China in the context of the challenges of sustainable development, especially green, so-called “green" pressures. First of all, I find that an important topic, compatible with the journal's scope, was considered.

 

We sincerely thank you for taking the time to give us valuable advice on our manuscript. We have learned much from these reminders and suggestions, which are significant for improving the quality of our manuscript.

 

I also recommend several corrections to improve the quality of this paper:

 

1)Such studies are partially analysed in literature. It would be worth presenting the state of the art in a broader way. I suggest a more dilligent, comparative description of other scientific research from the literature (section 1 and 2).

 

Thank you for your comments. Due to the lack of contemporary studies examining the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development through fiscal spending on sports. We have added relevant contents to the manuscript according to the actual situation.

 

2)Please describe in more detail the selection of the dependent variable, and clearly characterize the extended model, based on the "gtfp" approach. This part of the paper is laconic, unclear.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have added relevant content in the manuscript.

1.The reason for choosing green total factor productivity (gtfp) to characterize the level of regional green development.

Green total factor productivity (gtfp) takes environmental factors into account and is able to measure the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection. It can assess the environmental impact and efficiency of resource use while achieving economic growth in a region, which enables a better assessment of the region's overall performance in terms of sustainable development.

 

2.We have added the input-output variables of gtfp to the manuscript.

Input-output variables for calculating green total factor productivity (gtfp)

	Variables	Notes
Input variables	Labor inputs	Number of employed persons at year-end (10000)
	Capital inputs	Stock of fixed capital (100 million)
	Energy inputs	Energy consumption (10,000 tons of standard coal)
Expected output variables	Regional economic development Levels	Actual GDP (100 million)
Non-desired output variables	Pollutant emissions	Chemical oxygen demand in industrial wastewater (10,000 tons)
		SO2 emissions in industrial waste gas (10,000 tons)

 

3)To improve the readability and description of tables (since they are the basis for analysis verification), supplement the history of their description, a clear and not laconic reference in the paper (in section 4). 

 

Thank you for your comments. We have revised the content of the empirical analysis section.

 

Please remember that the formulated objectives - find a clear answer in the conclusion of the study. Is this really the way it works? Does the conclusion answer all the questions posed at the beginning of the paper (expressed in objectives and hypotheses)? It is also a great idea to present these most important [already sorted, synthetic] results in a clear way, for example graphically (table, diagram ?)… Please complete it and also correct it (section 5).

 

Thank you for your comments. We have revised the content of the concluding section of the manuscript.

We use gtfp to measure the level of regional green sustainability and select fiscal revenue decentralization as the indicator of the extent of fiscal decentralization. We theoretically analyze and empirically test the relationship among fiscal decentralization, the degree of emphasis on sports and regional green sustainable development. We obtain the following conclusions. First, fiscal decentralization can promote regional green development, and further confirms hypothesis 1 by robustness tests in various ways and by addressing endogeneity issues. Second, fiscal decentralization can enhance regional green development by increasing the importance of government sports, which verifies hypothesis 2. Third, there is regional heterogeneity in the effect of the degree of importance of government sports in the process of fiscal decentralization affecting regional green development. The transmission effect of fiscal decentralization affecting regional green development through sports development in the eastern region is better than that in the non-eastern region, that is, there are regional differences in the mediating effect of the government’s emphasis on sports. And our study confirms the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization system optimization and verifies that the increase in local governments’ emphasis on sports is beneficial to regional economic and green sustainability.

 

As a natural consequence of the changes made, the abstract will also be revised. In it, the essence of the study, i.e. what it is really about, should be indicated. Please also revise the title of the paper in this context: I recommend a change, appropriate to the content.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have made changes to the abstract and revised the title of the manuscript.

Abstract: From the perspective of institutional economics, We investigate the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development in China and its transmission mechanism through influencing sports fiscal expenditures on regional green development. Based on panel data of Chinese provincial regions from 2006 to 2017 in China, we use fixed effects models, two-stage least squares, and mediating effects models to find that fiscal decentralization accelerates regional green sustainability. Fiscal decentralization can enhance the government's emphasis on sports and promote the smart and intelligent development of the sports and health industry, thus contributing to the improvement of green and sustainable development. And there is regional heterogeneity in the effect of the governmental emphasis on sports, and the mediating effect of the degree of emphasis on sports is more obvious in the eastern region. We verify the possibility that the government can accelerate the economic green sustainability by raising the importance of sports and health industry development and promoting the intelligent infrastructure of sports and enriches the theoretical study of the ecological effect of fiscal decentralization from the perspective of sports economic development.

 

Title: A study on the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development : a perspective based on the emphasis on sports

 

The language of this paper is relatively correct, however some descriptions would benefit from being more concise. I recommend that the authors cooperate with a native speaker to improve the text of the paper.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have improved the language of the manuscript.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

I like the paper.

The paper argue very well the objective of the paper in the Introduction section. Also, the authors highlight their contribution to the literature.

The method used is correct.

 

However, I recommend minor changes:

- Lines 42-43: I recommend - "And this is the focus of ours study" (instead of "attention").

- It is not clear if the results are/are not the same with other obtained in previous studies. I think that the paper value would probably increase if author(s) compare their results with those of previous studies (if there are).

- In the Conclusions section, it would be better to refer to the authorities instead of "we should" (lines 536-537 and line 545).

 

Author Response

The paper argue very well the objective of the paper in the Introduction section. Also, the authors highlight their contribution to the literature. The method used is correct.However, I recommend minor changes:

 

We sincerely thank you for taking the time to give us valuable advice on our manuscript. Have a nice day!

 

- Lines 42-43: I recommend - "And this is the focus of ours study" (instead of "attention").

 

Thank you for your comments. We have corrected the content accordingly.

 

- It is not clear if the results are/are not the same with other obtained in previous studies. I think that the paper value would probably increase if author(s) compare their results with those of previous studies (if there are).

 

Thank you for your suggestions. There are existing studies that explore the impact of governmental sports fiscal expenditure on regional sustainable development (Wang et al.,2022) and regional carbon emissions (Xi et al.,2023), however, there are few studies involving sports economic development that explore the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development through sports fiscal expenditure. And we will continue to verify the reliability or specificity of the results of our study in subsequent works.

 

Wang D, Zhang E, Qiu P and Hong X (2022). Does increasing public expenditure on sports promote regional sustainable development: Evidence from China. Frontier in Public Health, 10:976188.

Xi, Muwei, Dingqing Wang, and Ye Xiang. (2023). Fiscal Expenditure on Sports and Regional Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China. Sustainability, 15, no. 9: 7595.

 

- In the Conclusions section, it would be better to refer to the authorities instead of "we should" (lines 536-537 and line 545).

 

Thank you for your comments. We have revised the statement in the corresponding place.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

I read the paper with interest. However, I find that, in its present form, it needs some major revisions to the empirical analysis before being published. My detailed comments follow.

The components of gtfp (dependent variable) are not totally clear to me. How are they measured exactly (one by one)?

The level of consumption of residents (control variable) is not totally clear to me. Is it expressed in per capita terms? If so, this should probably be pointed out more explicitly.

I think that adding some time lag (possibly well more than one year) between the dependent and independent variables would be definitely appropriate in the very first place and not just as a robustness check. As it is now, in fact, the simultaneity that characterizes the first econometric analysis really does not allow to infer any kind of causality and the problem of possible reverse causality seems to be very important here. In addition, I believe a check to the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) could be useful, since I do expect great correlation between per capita gdp and consumption. Moreover, how do(es) the author(s) explain the negative and significant relationship between R&D and gtfp (correlation with per capita gdp?)? Finally, from Tables 3, 4, and 5 I cannot understand if the control variables were also added in these specifications (they should be added).

My main concern is about Equation (6). I really cannot understand why the author(s) do not use a Structural Equation Model (SEM) instead of this 2-steps analysis…

Finally, given the significant weaknesses of the econometric analysis, my impression is that the conclusions push a bit too much in directions that are not strongly supported by the previous analysis.

Minor points

An overall check of the English language could be useful (e.g., the title of Section 4.3 to be changed from “Addressing endogenous problems” to “Addressing endogeneity problems”).

Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5 should be made self-explanatory, thus reporting the dependent variable, the specific model used for the estimation, and if the standard errors are robust (hope so).

An overall check of the English language could be useful (e.g., the title of Section 4.3 to be changed from “Addressing endogenous problems” to “Addressing endogeneity problems”).

Author Response

I read the paper with interest. However, I find that, in its present form, it needs some major revisions to the empirical analysis before being published. My detailed comments follow.

 

We sincerely thank you for taking the time to give us valuable advice on our manuscript. We have learned much from your reminders and suggestions, which are significant for improving the quality of our manuscript.

 

1.The components of gtfp (dependent variable) are not totally clear to me. How are they measured exactly (one by one)?  

 

Thank you for your comments. We have added the input-output variables of gtfp to the manuscript.

 

Input-output variables for calculating green total factor productivity (gtfp)

	Variables	Notes
Input variables	Labor inputs	Number of employed persons at year-end (10000)
	Capital inputs	Stock of fixed capital (100 million)
	Energy inputs	Energy consumption (10,000 tons of standard coal)
Expected output variables	Regional economic development Levels	Actual GDP (100 million)
Non-desired output variables	Pollutant emissions	Chemical oxygen demand in industrial wastewater (10,000 tons)
		SO2 emissions in industrial waste gas (10,000 tons)

 

2.The level of consumption of residents (control variable) is not totally clear to me. Is it expressed in per capita terms? If so, this should probably be pointed out more explicitly.

 

Thank you for your comments. Our consumption levels are calculated on a per capita basis, which we have added in 3.2.4. Control variables.

 

3.I think that adding some time lag (possibly well more than one year) between the dependent and independent variables would be definitely appropriate in the very first place and not just as a robustness check. As it is now, in fact, the simultaneity that characterizes the first econometric analysis really does not allow to infer any kind of causality and the problem of possible reverse causality seems to be very important here. In addition, I believe a check to the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) could be useful, since I do expect great correlation between per capita gdp and consumption. Moreover, how do(es) the author(s) explain the negative and significant relationship between R&D and gtfp (correlation with per capita gdp?)? Finally, from Tables 3, 4, and 5 I cannot understand if the control variables were also added in these specifications (they should be added). 

 

Thank you for your comments.

First, we argue that it may be inappropriate to include a fiscal decentralization lag term in the baseline regression model. On the one hand, fiscal decentralization affects the fiscal expenditures behavior in the current year, and government fiscal expenditures are closely related to the output in the current year (output consists of capital share output, labor share output, and output from total factor productivity improvement). On the other hand, green total factor productivity (gtfp) is defined as the contribution of factors other than the input contribution shares of capital and labor to the current year's output, which measures the green development status in the current year. Therefore, it may not be appropriate to include a lagged term in the benchmark review. Our manuscript selects the lagged term of fiscal decentralization as an instrumental variable in eliminating possible endogeneity problems in the regression. This instrumental variable is consistent with the selection criteria,that is, it is not correlated with the disturbance term and the explanatory variables, but only with the core explanatory variables.

Second, according to your suggestion, we have conducted a VIF test and we can see that the values of VIF are all less than 10. Therefore, there is no problem of multicollinearity between the variables.

 

Variable	VIF	1/VIF
fd_rev	6.33	0.158024
consump	4.05	0.247129
gdp	4.02	0.248863
fdi	3.21	0.311432
rd	1.42	0.705026
upd	1.18	0.847289
Mean VIF	3.37

 

Third, we have added the results of the control variable regressions in the corresponding tables based on your suggestions. As shown on p.11-13.

 

 

 

 

4.My main concern is about Equation (6). I really cannot understand why the author(s) do not use a Structural Equation Model (SEM) instead of this 2-steps analysis…

 

Thank you for your comments. First, both the structural equation model and the three-step approach proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986) are able to test the transmission mechanism. Among them, the three-step approach to test the transmission mechanism is more common in OLS regressions, and this paper further uses Sobel test and Bootstrap test to test the robustness of the mediating effects in the transmission mechanism. And this method is more mature in discussing the transmission mechanism.

 

Baron, R. M. & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The Moderator-mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychological Research: Conceptual. Strategic and Statistical Considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173-1182.

 

5.Finally, given the significant weaknesses of the econometric analysis, my impression is that the conclusions push a bit too much in directions that are not strongly supported by the previous analysis.

Thank you for your comments. We have made revisions to the conclusion section of the manuscript.

 

Minor points

An overall check of the English language could be useful (e.g., the title of Section 4.3 to be changed from “Addressing endogenous problems” to “Addressing endogeneity problems”). Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5 should be made self-explanatory, thus reporting the dependent variable, the specific model used for the estimation, and if the standard errors are robust (hope so).  

 

Thank you for your comments. We have revised the corresponding content of the manuscript.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 5 Report

Fiscal Decentralization, Emphasis on Sports and Regional Green Development: Provincial Evidence from China 

Comments:

1. The title should be specific and precise.

2. The abstract ought to epitomize clarity and brevity. The background of the abstract should be closely related to the topic of this paper. At the same time, research data, methods, objectives, and results should be accurately represented.

3. In the introduction, it is stated that the research background of this paper is not successful. The current version is too abstract. In the introductory section, the authors are encouraged to explore more comprehensively and deeply the relationship between fiscal decentralization, sports, and regional green development in China's provinces. This discussion should be seamlessly integrated with the juxtaposition of cutting-edge research and analysis from authoritative sources, thus facilitating the derivation of research objectives. The manuscript should also clarify how its findings add to the existing body of knowledge.

4. The relationship between sports and regional green development should be analyzed with emphasis based on relevant theories.

5. The contribution of this paper should be compared with previous cutting-edge and authoritative literature so as to be reflected.

6. Within the realm of the literature review, the author is advised to incorporate references to leading-edge, authoritative sources. Subsequently, a debatable analysis should be conducted, enabling the formation of this paper's hypotheses and elucidating its distinctiveness from the prevailing literature.

7. For the reader, the data describe confusion. What is the rationale for adding these control variables?

8. From Tables 2 to 7, it is hard for readers to understand without statistical explanations.

9. More economic meaning should be analyzed than simply table content restated.

10. The author is urged to articulate the paper's conclusion with succinctness and precision. Concurrently, relevant policy recommendations should be proposed, drawing upon the paper's conclusions. Furthermore, the author ought to delineate the limitations inherent to this research and propose potential avenues for future scholarly exploration.

Best regards!

 English very difficult to understand/incomprehensible

Author Response

Response to Comments:

1.The title should be specific and precise.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have made changes to the title of the manuscript.“A study on the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development : a perspective based on the emphasis on sports”

 

2.The abstract ought to epitomize clarity and brevity. The background of the abstract should be closely related to the topic of this paper. At the same time, research data, methods, objectives, and results should be accurately represented.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have made additions and changes to the abstract content.

 

From the perspective of institutional economics, We investigate the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development in China and its transmission mechanism through influencing sports fiscal expenditures on regional green development. Based on panel data of Chinese provincial regions from 2006 to 2017 in China, we use fixed effects models, two-stage least squares, and mediating effects models to find that fiscal decentralization accelerates regional green sustainability. Fiscal decentralization can enhance the government's emphasis on sports and promote the smart and intelligent development of the sports and health industry, thus contributing to the improvement of green and sustainable development. And there is regional heterogeneity in the effect of the governmental emphasis on sports, and the mediating effect of the degree of emphasis on sports is more obvious in the eastern region. We verify the possibility that the government can accelerate the economic green sustainability by raising the importance of sports and health industry development and promoting the intelligent infrastructure of sports and enriches the theoretical study of the ecological effect of fiscal decentralization from the perspective of sports economic development.

 

3.In the introduction, it is stated that the research background of this paper is not successful. The current version is too abstract. In the introductory section, the authors are encouraged to explore more comprehensively and deeply the relationship between fiscal decentralization, sports, and regional green development in China's provinces. This discussion should be seamlessly integrated with the juxtaposition of cutting-edge research and analysis from authoritative sources, thus facilitating the derivation of research objectives. The manuscript should also clarify how its findings add to the existing body of knowledge.

 

Thank you for your suggestions. There are existing studies that explore the impact of governmental sports fiscal expenditure on regional sustainable development (Wang et al.,2022) and regional carbon emissions (Xi et al.,2023), however, there are few studies involving sports economic development that explore the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development through sports fiscal expenditure. And we will continue to verify the reliability or specificity of the results of our study in subsequent works.

 

Wang D, Zhang E, Qiu P and Hong X (2022). Does increasing public expenditure on sports promote regional sustainable development: Evidence from China. Frontier in Public Health, 10:976188.

 

Xi, Muwei, Dingqing Wang, and Ye Xiang. (2023). Fiscal Expenditure on Sports and Regional Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China. Sustainability, 15, no. 9: 7595.

 

4.The relationship between sports and regional green development should be analyzed with emphasis based on relevant theories.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have revised and added relevant content in the manuscript.

 

The vigorous development of sports business is closely related to the green development of the region. From the supply side, the government increases fiscal support for sports, on the one hand, it could develop intelligent manufacturing and green materials (Dong at al., 2020), and integrate green concepts into the whole process of production, transportation and sales of sports manufacturing enterprises, which in turn could effectively enhance the green development of the region. On the other hand, it could explore the development of green fitness and leisure industry and create green fitness and leisure demonstration areas and new models (Liu at al., 2022), which is conducive to promoting the green development of the region. From the demand side, the government could hold large-scale sports events through financial support, guide the public to change their lifestyles, pay attention to cultivating residents' sports health and wellness habits, and advocate green and low-carbon living, thus promoting regional green development (Chen at al., 2018).

Stability is an indispensable prerequisite for reform and development, which also provides a solid foundation for social stability and long-term national security (Shu, 1997). In June 2016, the Chinese government issued a document clearly proposing to implement the National Fitness Plan (2016-2020), requiring increasing the investment of relevant funds and establishing a diversified fund-raising mechanism. In addition, local governments above the county level should include funds related to the work of national fitness in the financial budget and gradually increase investment in national fitness as the national economy continues to develop. In 2019, China's State General Administration of Sports and China's Economic Development and Reform Commission further released the document "Action Plan to Further Promote Sports Consumption (2019-2020)," which clearly states that governments at all levels are expected to contribute to promoting the development of national fitness wisdom. It is believed that local governments should enhance the importance of sports and develop diversified and intelligent sports products by combining wearable devices, virtual reality technology and Internet of Things management platforms to achieve high-quality development of sports and health. Currently, under the strategic goals of pursuing "carbon neutrality", "carbon peak" and building a sports power, it is important to properly deal with the relationship among the improvement of the fiscal decentralization system, sports development and regional green sustainable development. The sports industry contains a variety of green development factors that are associated with regional green sustainability. Green and healthy sports activity attributes profoundly affect green sustainable development (Barton,2009). When the government increases fiscal support for sports, the green industry of the region will be developed under the policy incentive, thus achieving the goal of sustainable development (Wang et al., 2022). At this time, the ecological effect of sports development is fully reflected. From the supply perspective, the government's increasing attention and fiscal support for sports efficaciously achieve green sustainability in the region. The government can support industrial integration and integrate the green low-carbon concept into the whole process of production, transportation and sales of sports manufacturing enterprises to produce low-carbon sports clothing, shoes, hats and equipment, thus realizing green sustainable development. From the demand perspective, governments may accelerate regional green sustainability by fiscal support for organizing extensive sports events after raising the importance of sports, guiding residents to transform their way of life, attaching attention to forming residents' sports health and wellness customs, and advocating low-carbon living for residents.

 

5.The contribution of this paper should be compared with previous cutting-edge and authoritative literature so as to be reflected.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have improved the content of the marginal contribution section.

 

Existing research lacks relevant studies that explore the ecological impact of fiscal decentralization from the perspective of sports and health profession development. There are existing studies that explore the impact of governmental sports fiscal expenditure on regional sustainable development (Wang et al., 2022) and regional carbon emissions (Xi et al., 2023). However, there are few studies involving sports economic development that explore the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development through sports fiscal expenditure. The Chinese-style fiscal system is an important institution that changes the level of support for sports and influences regional green sustainable development (Jia and Wang, 2012; Cai, et al., 2022). How does fiscal decentralization affect regional green sustainability, and whether it influence the extent of regional green sustainability by changing the government's emphasis on sports development? Further research is warranted.On the basis of the above analysis, we effectively expand the study on the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization. Our study’s marginal contributions are primarily as follows. First, our investigation of the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization is based on the perspective of sports development. With the concept of the "Green Olympics" for the Beijing Winter Olympics, green sports have gradually gained popularity, and sports and the green economy have been closely linked (Shen and Kou, 2012). It is not only appropriate but also necessary to explore fiscal decentralization’s ecological effects from the standpoint of sports development. We explore the influence of fiscal decentralization on green sustainable development from the standpoint of government support for sports, which can enrich the research on the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization. Second, since the fiscal revenues of local governments have an important influence on fiscal expenditure behavior (Su, 2020; Ríos et al., 2018), we use fiscal revenue decentralization to evaluate the level of local government fiscal decentralization, which can better reflect the degree of regional fiscal autonomous rights. Third, we further analyze the regional variability of the mediating effect of the government's emphasis on sports based on the validation of the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization. Thus, our study enrich the research related to the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization from the perspective of sports development and provides a strong empirical basis for local governments to support the development of sports.

 

6.Within the realm of the literature review, the author is advised to incorporate references to leading-edge, authoritative sources. Subsequently, a debatable analysis should be conducted, enabling the formation of this paper's hypotheses and elucidating its distinctiveness from the prevailing literature.

 

Thank you for your comments. Due to the lack of studies examining the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development through fiscal spending on sports. We have added relevant contents to the manuscript according to the actual situation. And as shown in p.3-4.

 

7.For the reader, the data describe confusion. What is the rationale for adding these control variables?

 

In addition, we control the variables that may affect regional green sustainable development. First, we argue that gross regional product per capita (gdp) is a control variable that cannot be ignored. This is because as the income level of residents rises and the technology level improves, the lifestyle of residents may develop in the green direction. Therefore, the gdp is an important indicator of the progress of regional green development, which we express in terms of real GDP per capita. Second, the degree of foreign openness (fdi) may favor the development of the renewable energy industry [Yang S, Feng D, Lu J, et al.(2022). The effect of venture capital on green innovation: Is environmental regulation an institutional guarantee?. Journal of Environmental Management, 318: 115641.], and the behavior of foreign investment may also promote the development of the energy industry and thus influence the green development of the region. Therefore, we use the quantity of real foreign direct investment per capita to express it. The third is regional R&D expenditure (r&d), which can promote local science and technology innovation and thus influence the green development level significantly [Nguyen, T.T.; Nguyen, V.C.(2021). Financial Development and Renewables in Southeast Asian Countries—The Role of Organic Waste Materials. Sustainability, 13, 8748.]. And we measure it by the ratio of change in regional R&D expenditure. The fourth is regional population density (upd), a vital factor affecting the regional ecological environment, and we use the regional urban population density to represent it. The fifth is the consumption level (consump). The consumption level of regional residents has an important impact on the lifestyle of residents and the development of regional industries, thus affecting regional green sustainability [ Xi, Muwei, Dingqing Wang, and Ye Xiang. (2023). Fiscal Expenditure on Sports and Regional Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China. Sustainability, 15, no. 9: 7595.]. We measure it by the regional per capita consumption level of residents.

 

8.From Tables 2 to 7, it is hard for readers to understand without statistical explanations.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have refined the content of the empirical analysis section.

 

9.More economic meaning should be analyzed than simply table content restated.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have improved the content of the empirical analysis section.

 

10.The author is urged to articulate the paper's conclusion with succinctness and precision. Concurrently, relevant policy recommendations should be proposed, drawing upon the paper's conclusions. Furthermore, the author ought to delineate the limitations inherent to this research and propose potential avenues for future scholarly exploration.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have revised and added to the conclusions, policy implications, and limitations and outlook.

We use gtfp to measure the level of regional green sustainability and select fiscal revenue decentralization as the indicator of the extent of fiscal decentralization. We theoretically analyze and empirically test the relationship among fiscal decentralization, the degree of emphasis on sports and regional green sustainable development. We obtain the following conclusions. First, fiscal decentralization can promote regional green development, and further confirms hypothesis 1 by robustness tests in various ways and by addressing endogeneity issues. Second, fiscal decentralization can enhance regional green development by increasing the importance of government sports, which verifies hypothesis 2. Third, there is regional heterogeneity in the effect of the degree of importance of government sports in the process of fiscal decentralization affecting regional green development. The transmission effect of fiscal decentralization affecting regional green development through sports development in the eastern region is better than that in the non-eastern region, that is, there are regional differences in the mediating effect of the government’s emphasis on sports. And our study confirms the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization system optimization and verifies that the increase in local governments’ emphasis on sports is beneficial to regional economic and green sustainability.

Based on the conclusions of our study, we have several policy implications. First, the authorities should give full play to the comparative advantages of local governments, implement the main role of local governments in the process of regional sustainable development. Allocate a greater share of tax revenues to local governments and grant them more control over their budget allocations. This will empower them to prioritize sustainable development projects and implement policies that align with local environmental needs, which can promote the government's active role in the process of promoting green and sustainable development. Second, while optimizing the fiscal decentralization system, the authorities should pay more attention to establish partnerships between local governments, sports organizations, and technology companies to create smart sports infrastructure. This measure can make full use of the digital economy and digital technology to give full play to the potential ecological effects of sports development and guide the development of regional green circular economy. Third, the authorities should further improve the transmission mechanism of fiscal decentralization in less economically developed regions through fiscal support for sports. Allocate specific funding for sports infrastructure, training programs, and sports events in less economically developed regions. And encourage public-private partnerships to leverage additional resources and expertise in promoting sports-based initiatives that have positive environmental and economic impacts.

We explore the impact of fiscal decentralization on regional green development and its mechanism of action from the perspective of institutional economics, which enriches the theoretical study of the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization from the perspective of sports business development. However, since the data related to sports fiscal expenditures are only available at the provincial administrative level, this limits our research on exploring the ecological effects of sports economic development from the perspective of cities or counties. In the future, we will use big data platforms, data from listed companies, and data mining techniques to obtain micro-level data for more in-depth research.

 

Round 2

Reviewer 5 Report

Thanks to the authors for the revised version. Through careful reading of the revised manuscript, I found that the authors did not explain the following problems

##3. In the introduction, it is stated that the research background of this paper is not successful. The current version is too abstract. In the introductory section, the authors are encouraged to explore more comprehensively and deeply the relationship between fiscal decentralization, sports, and regional green development in China's provinces. This discussion should be seamlessly integrated with the juxtaposition of cutting-edge research and analysis from authoritative sources, thus facilitating the derivation of research objectives. The manuscript should also clarify how its findings add to the existing body of knowledge. 

## 6. Within the realm of the literature review, the author is advised to incorporate references to leading-edge, authoritative sources. Subsequently, a debatable analysis should be conducted, enabling the formation of this paper's hypotheses and elucidating its distinctiveness from the prevailing literature.

## 8. From Tables 2 to 7, it is hard for readers to understand without statistical explanations.

##9. More economic meaning should be analyzed than simply table content restated.

 

Extensive editing of English language required

Author Response

Response to reviewer 5:

 

##3. In the introduction, it is stated that the research background of this paper is not successful. The current version is too abstract.

In the introductory section, the authors are encouraged to explore more comprehensively and deeply the relationship between fiscal decentralization, sports, and regional green development in China's provinces. This discussion should be seamlessly integrated with the juxtaposition of cutting-edge research and analysis from authoritative sources, thus facilitating the derivation of research objectives.

The manuscript should also clarify how its findings add to the existing body of knowledge.

## 6. Within the realm of the literature review, the author is advised to incorporate references to leading-edge, authoritative sources. Subsequently, a debatable analysis should be conducted, enabling the formation of this paper's hypotheses and elucidating its distinctiveness from the prevailing literature.

Thank you for your comments. Based on your ##3 & ##6 suggestions, we have made profound changes and additions to the introduction.

 

As the policy designer of economic development, the leader of green transformation and the builder of an ecological civilization society, the government is of great importance in promoting regional green sustainable development. Fiscal expenditure, as one of the main means of government participation in regional construction [], is the key to promoting regional green sustainable development. Fiscal decentralization is an institutional arrangement that involves the transfer of fiscal powers from the central government to local governments. It aims to achieve a dispersion of political power at the national level and empower local governments with autonomy and responsibility in fiscal matters, enabling them to cater to diverse local needs and characteristics []. Fiscal decentralization is an essential element affecting regional government fiscal spending [] and has a crucial effect on regional green sustainable development [].

Some studies have demonstrated that fiscal decentralization can impede green sustainable development in the region. Kunce (2007) [] found that governments with higher fiscal autonomy can engage in "bottom-by-bottom competition", leading regional governments to automatically lower environmental criteria, thereby increasing environmental pollution and creating serious ecological problems. Zeng et al. (2020) [] showed that fiscal decentralization affects regional ecotourism development, which hinders the improvement of regional green sustainable development. Some studies point out the lack of correlation between fiscal decentralization and regional green sustainability. Wu (2014) [] found that fiscal decentralization is not important among the factors affecting the degree of green sustainable development in central districts and western districts. In addition, its role is extremely limited, which may be caused by its geographical location and economic development level. Xue and Pan (2012) [] explored the relation between the scale of local environmental pollutant emissions in China and fiscal decentralization and found that the relation between fiscal revenue decentralization and emissions of environmental pollutants was not clear. Some studies also suggest that fiscal decentralization may have an inverted U-shaped relationship with green sustainable development in the region due to the existence of the complex behavioral motivations of local governments [].

Obviously, studies on the impact of fiscal decentralization on green sustainability have yielded conflicting results. Zhang (2018) [] argues that environmental issues stem from the economic development model, not fiscal decentralization. The imperfect incentive mechanism under fiscal decentralization leads to biased choices in environmental governance. Fiscal decentralization, as an institutional arrangement, gives regional governments a strong incentive to develop their economies and can encourage regional governments to aim for a high degree of integration between environmental protection and economic development under the premise of clear direction in policy documents, thus promoting green sustainable development in the region []. Similarly, some scholars have concluded that fiscal decentralization has an important effect in promoting regional ecological optimization and green transformation []. Fiscal decentralization has been widely studied in the context of its impact on regional development and governance [6][]. It is understood that delegating fiscal responsibilities to sub-national governments can enhance local decision-making and resource allocation, potentially leading to more effective and sustainable development strategies []. In recent years, there has been a growing body of research examining the relationship between fiscal decentralization and the promotion of green development [][].

The government's attention to green sustainable economic and social development is increasing, yet it still does not pay enough attention to the ecological effects of sports and the sports industry [][]. Researchers and policy makers have also ignored the ecological effects of the sport and health business. In recent years, the concept of local government support for sports and health industries and thus the promotion of green sustainable development has gradually gained attention [][], and deeply carrying out the concept of green sustainable development and expanding channels of green sustainable development to enhance the quality of regional development is important. Concomitantly, sports have been recognized as playing a significant role in regional development, with various studies highlighting the positive socio-economic impacts of hosting sports events and investing in sports infrastructure []. Sports events and facilities can attract tourists, boost local economies, and contribute to urban regeneration and community cohesion []. Furthermore, sports can serve as a platform for promoting environmental awareness and sustainable practices [].

Existing studies examine the impact of governmental sports fiscal expenditure on regional sustainable development [1] and carbon emissions []. However, few studies focus on the relationship between fiscal decentralization, sports fiscal expenditure, and regional green development in sports economic development. To bridge this gap, our study aims to investigate the relationship between fiscal decentralization, financial expenditures on sports, and regional green development in China's provinces. By integrating insights from previous research on fiscal decentralization, green development, and sports economics, our research seeks to shed light on how does fiscal decentralization affect regional green sustainability, and whether it influences the extent of regional green sustainability by changing the government's emphasis on sports development.

The Chinese-style fiscal system is an important institution that changes the level of support for sports and influences regional green sustainable development [][]. On the basis of the above analysis, we effectively expand the study on the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization. Our study’s marginal contributions are primarily as follows. First, our investigation of the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization is based on the perspective of sports development. With the concept of the "Green Olympics" for the Beijing Winter Olympics, green sports have gradually gained popularity, and sports and the green economy have been closely linked []. It is not only appropriate but also necessary to explore fiscal decentralization’s ecological effects from the standpoint of sports development. We explore the influence of fiscal decentralization on green sustainable development from the standpoint of government support for sports, which can enrich the research on the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization. Second, since the fiscal revenues of local governments have an important influence on fiscal expenditure behavior [][], we use fiscal revenue decentralization to evaluate the level of local government fiscal decentralization, which can better reflect the degree of regional fiscal autonomous rights. Third, we further analyze the regional variability of the mediating effect of the government's emphasis on sports based on the validation of the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization. Thus, our study enriches the research related to the ecological effects of fiscal decentralization from the perspective of sports development and provides a strong empirical basis for local governments to support the development of sports.

 

## 8. From Tables 2 to 7, it is hard for readers to understand without statistical explanations.

 

Thank you for your comments. We have added notes below the table.

 

 

##9. More economic meaning should be analyzed than simply table content restated.

 

Thank you for your comments. Based on your suggestion, we have added analysis and explanations to the empirical analysis section, as shown on pages 9-15.

 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 5 Report

I have no additional comments.

good luck!