How low-carbon transition affects entrepreneurship: Evidence from China's low-carbon city pilot policy

The low-carbon transition is a systemic change, and entrepreneurship, as an important driving force for unleashing the potential of social innovation and creation, is undergoing profound changes in the process. Based on China's low-carbon city pilot policy (LCCP), we systematically evaluated the entrepreneurial effect and mechanism of LCCP through a quasi-natural experiment. The study found that LCCP significantly promotes entrepreneurship, and this conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests. The mechanism analysis shows that technological innovation, talent agglomeration, industrial upgrading, and financing facilitation are important channels through which LCCP stimulates entrepreneurial vitality. Heterogeneity analysis found that LCCP' impact on entrepreneurship is more pronounced in southern regions and in cities with more advanced economies, higher carbon emissions, and less industrial specialization. Further research found that LCCP inhibits entrepreneurship in neighboring cities, but can curb the strategic relocation behavior of polluting enterprises. The research conclusions not only enrich the research on the social impacts of low-carbon transition, but also provide new ideas and perspectives for interregional environmental governance in China from a spatial perspective.