Resource allocation efficiency is one of the most important themes of economic research, so research on environmental policy and resource allocation is an important aspect to evaluate the economic effects of environmental policies. This paper first briefly reviews the research context of the theory of resource reallocation and resource misallocation and then analyzes the conceptual implications and accounting methods of resource reallocation and resource misallocation. Secondly, this paper takes the theoretical assumptions and mechanisms of different models as the main line, systematically sorts out the relevant literature on the impact of environmental policies on resource reallocation and resource misallocation, summarizes and reviews relevant theoretical and empirical research, and puts forward the shortcomings of the research and future direction of expansion. Finally, this paper makes a brief comment on the research status of China’ s environmental policies and resource allocation and puts forward their research prospect. This paper finds that: ① From the perspective of resource reallocation, environmental policies affect the reallocation of resources across firms or within firms by changing the entry and exit conditions, inhibiting the degree of product market competition, and changing product mix. By distorting factor prices, these policies lead to the deviation of the equilibrium allocation of factors from the optimal allocation of firms, thereby causing resource misallocation. ② The conclusions on how the initial distortion affects the resource reallocation effect of environmental policies, or whether environmental policies can mitigate the resource misallocation caused by the initial distortion, differ de⁃ pending on the form of the initial distortion. ③ The existing literature on environmental policies and resource allocation is insufficient in terms of research perspectives, research methods, and research scenarios, and the research conclusions on the impact of environmental policies on resource allocation efficiency usually depend on the relevant assumptions and research scenarios of benchmark models. The theoretical analysis results and the degree of influence under different frameworks of benchmark models are different. This paper believes that, based on the Chinese scenario, theoretical breakthroughs in the measurement of the micro-mechanisms and effects of environmental policies affecting resource allocation, environmental policies and industrial transformation and upgrading, environmental policies and resource space mismatches, etc., may be a marginal contribution of China’ s research on development economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]