The pollution halo effect of technology spillover and pollution haven effect of economic growth in agricultural foreign trade: two sides of the same coin?

The existing literature on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) fails to investigate the spatial attribute of the “pollution halo” effect or to integrate the “pollution haven” effect. This paper extends the EKC model to the spatial Durbin model by exploring the spatial spillover of disembodied technology and the pollution transfer effect of environmental regulation. Taking Chinese agricultural foreign trade as an example, our paper finds that the technology spillover does not bring a pollution halo effect to local areas but to adjacent areas. The pollution haven effect impacts the EKC’s turning point, which can be divided into two curves in the spatial dimension: an inverted U-shaped curve, in which the turning point represents the effect of technological innovation, and a U-shaped curve, in which the turning point represents the transfer effect of pollution-intensive industries. Based on the conclusion, this paper recommends that agricultural non-point pollution reduction should be nationally coordinated to establish transport infrastructure and the agricultural human capital conditions for the spatial diffusion of disembodied technology.