Abstract:

The coordinated development of green innovation and green finance is a prerequisite for high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. Based on data from nine provinces in the Yellow River Basin from 2006 to 2021， this study uses entropy weight method， coupling the methods of coordination degree model， Kernel density estimation， Dagum-Gini coefficient to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution and regional differences between green innovation and green finance in the Yellow River Basin. The results show： （1） Temporal evolution： From 2006 to 2021， the overall coupling and coordination level of green innovation and green finance in the Yellow River Basin gradually improved， but the development between regions remained unbalanced. Specifically： The downstream region transitioned from Marginal Coordination to good coordination； the midstream region evolved from near disharmony to primary coordination； and the upstream region shifted from mild disharmony to Marginal Coordination. （2） From a spatial perspective， the coupling and coordination levels of green innovation and green finance in the Yellow River Basin follow the order of downstream> midstream>upstream， with the spatial distribution of coupling and coordination degrees displaying a geographical gradient of higher levels in the east and lower levels in the west. （3） From the perspectives of inter-regional and intra-regional disparities， both types of differences demonstrated a narrowing trend between 2006 and 2021. The upper reaches had the highest Gini coefficient， while the middle and lower reaches had relatively lower coefficients. Inter-regional Gini coefficients displayed a characteristic pattern of upper-lower reaches>upper-middle reaches>middle-lower reaches， reflecting significant spatial polarization characteristics.

Key words: green innovation, green finance, coupling coordination, spatial evolution, Yellow River Basin