Regional gap and the trend of green finance development in China

The purpose of this research is to show the regional gap, spatial pattern, and the trend evolution of China's green finance development. Based on provincial data from 2010 to 2019, we construct a policy- and market-oriented green financial development index system with the help of a local green financial development index and assessment report in 2019 and then calculate the green financial development index by using time and space ranges via the entry-weight method. We further employ Dagum's Gini coefficient decomposition method, Kernel density estimation, Markov chain, and spatial Markov chain, presenting results that first show that the overall development index of green finance in China is on the rise, but its overall level is not high. Second, the overall regional gap is on the decline, and the inter-regional gap is the main source of the development gap of green finance in the country. Third, the development of green finance shows a polarization trend, characterized by a ladder distribution of initially east China, central China, west China, and then northeast China. Finally, the development of green finance in China shows a club convergence phenomenon. This revelation of the evolution trend and source of the development gap of China's green finance provide a basis for narrowing this gap and for promoting the coordinated development of green finance in China's economic regions.