Table 8.

Spatial heterogeneity and robustness tests.

Panel A. Regional and socioeconomic heterogeneity
Subsample	HP-DFE → SEI	HP-DFE × SA → SEI	RE-DFE → UE	RE-DFE × FL → UE	SEI_t − 1 → NR
Eastern China	0.142***	0.061*	0.246***	−0.096**	−0.116**
Central China	0.119**	0.074**	0.218***	−0.081*	−0.128**
Western China	0.086*	0.093**	0.192**	−0.068*	−0.109*
Northeastern China	0.073	0.052	0.176*	−0.044	−0.087
High-income provinces	0.138***	0.058*	0.251***	−0.104**	−0.121**
Low-income provinces	0.094**	0.096**	0.203***	−0.071*	−0.112*
High-urbanization provinces	0.146***	0.055*	0.263***	−0.101**	−0.119**
Low-urbanization provinces	0.091**	0.089**	0.198**	−0.073*	−0.107*

Panel B. Robustness checks
Robustness specification	HP-DFE → SEI	HP-DFE × SA → SEI	RE-DFE → UE	RE-DFE × FL → UE	SEI_t − 1 → NR
Equal-weighted indices	0.108**	0.069**	0.207***	−0.083**	−0.118***
PCA-based indices	0.121***	0.076**	0.223***	−0.079**	−0.127***
Excluding municipalities	0.101**	0.071**	0.196***	−0.075*	−0.113**
Excluding 2020–2022	0.118**	0.068*	0.201***	−0.081**	−0.109**
Non-interpolated sample	0.097**	0.064*	0.189***	−0.072*	−0.105**
Lagged exposure model	0.104**	0.066*	0.193***	−0.078**	−0.116**

Panel C. GWR/MGWR local coefficient ranges
Local coefficient	Minimum	Median	Maximum
HP-DFE → SEI	0.061	0.118	0.196
RE-DFE → UE	0.135	0.221	0.284
SA → SEI	0.041	0.092	0.143
FL → SEI	0.072	0.126	0.183
SEI → NR	−0.168	−0.112	−0.061