Coupling and Coordinated Development Between Informal Environmental Regulation and the Efficiency of Government Environmental Protection Expenditure in China: Spatial–Temporal Difference and Driving Factors

To direct financial resources for achieving the goal of sustainable development, Chinese government has devoted increasing efforts to developing green finance. However, few studies explored the relationship between green finance and environmental governance. Thus, this paper first theoretically discusses the interactive connection between green finance and environmental governance. And then we construct two comprehensive indicator systems and use entropy method to calculate green finance index (GFI) and environmental governance index (EGI) for 30 provinces of China from 2004 to 2020. The theoretical analysis unveils the complementary and mutual reinforcing relationship of the interaction between green finance and environmental governance through green industry. Using the data of GFI and EGI, the coupling coordination degree of green finance and environmental governance (CCDGE) is measured by coupling coordination model. The trend analysis discovers that GFI is increasing over time while EGI starts decreasing from 2013. Although GFI has grown more rapidly than EGI, but the development of green finance still lags behind environmental governance because of its short history. Just because of the uncoordinated development between green finance and environmental governance, CCDGE has been hovering in the moderate coupling coordination stage for a long time and still has a great distance to the high coupling coordination level. These findings imply that the relationship between green finance and environmental governance is still in a state of disorderly development that restricts each other. Furthermore, the findings of spatial-temporal analysis show there are obvious regional differences in GFI and EGI and the interactive effect between green finance and environmental governance. Specifically, GFI and EGI in eastern China are the highest, while CCDGE presents with a ladder decline status of "eastern region > central region > northeast region > west region." Our findings provide vital references for policymakers to promote the coupling coordination development between green finance and environmental governance.

The coupling coordination of the logistics industry and manufacturing industry is conducive to the sustainable development of logistics and manufacturing and the stability of sustainable supply chain. The logistics and manufacturing industries are not only the basic industries that support social development, but also the industries with high carbon emissions. This paper constructs the measurement system of coupling coordinating ecological efficiency of two industries based on carbon emission constraints and finds out the driving factors affecting ecological efficiency, which is of great significance to the low-carbon coordinated development of the two industries in the future. Firstly, this paper classifies the carbon emissions from the logistics industry and manufacturing industry as undesirable outputs and evaluates the ecological efficiency of the logistics industry (LEE) and manufacturing industry (MEE) in the three urban agglomerations from 2006 to 2019 by using the unexpected slacks-based measure (SBM) model. Secondly, the coupling coordination method is used to analyze the coupling coordination scheduling of industrial ecological efficiency (MLCC). Finally, the spatial econometric model is used to analyze the driving factors of the MLCC. The results show that during the study period, the coupling coordination of the three urban agglomerations continued to grow, the Pearl River Delta coupling coordination is the highest, the Yangtze River Delta coupling coordination grew the fastest, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coupling coordination grew slightly slower. The development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period is obviously faster than that during the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plan. The empirical analysis results of spatial econometrics show that the driving factors have an impact on the coupling coordination degree of the three urban agglomerations, but the significance of each factor is different. The driving factors have significant spatial heterogeneity. The three urban agglomerations should formulate low-carbon industry development policies in line with local development according to the actual situation of each region and local conditions.

Coupling tourism development (TD), scientific and technological innovation (ST), and ecological environment (EE) is crucial to regional sustainable development, and it is necessary to explore the spatial and temporal characteristics. The study constructs a coordinated development evaluation index system for the three subsystems. And the spatiotemporal characteristics of the coupling coordination between TD, ST, and EE were revealed by applying the entropy method, coupling coordination model and based on the panel data of 30 regions in China from 2005 to 2020. The results show that: (1) the comprehensive development index and coupling coordination degree show an increasing trend, focusing on the stages of endangered and mild imbalance recession;(2) Most regions are in a state of high coupling and low coordination, mainly concentrated in tourism lagging or science and technology lagging; (3) the coupling coordination shows a spatial pattern as the moderate imbalance in the northwest and the relative balance in the southeast, with a vast regional disparities and clustering characteristics; and (4) the gray prediction model shows that the coupling coordination degree will continue the upward trend in the future. In a nutshell, this research presents a novel framework and results that can be used as an evaluation index and policy insights for coupling TD, ST, and EE.

BackgroundThe imbalance between supply and demand in China’s healthcare sector has become increasingly pronounced. This study aims to quantitatively assess the coupling and coordination status of health resource supply and demand in China, reveal its determinants, with the goal of narrowing regional disparities and improving the overall coordination level. By analyzing the spatiotemporal evolution of health resource allocation from 2002 to 2021, we seek to provide evidence-based policy recommendations for addressing the imbalance in China’s healthcare sector.MethodsUsing provincial panel data from 2002 to 2021, we constructed a comprehensive evaluation index system for the health resource supply-demand system. The entropy weight method and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution were employed to quantify the comprehensive levels of supply and demand. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) and its types were assessed using a coupling coordination model. Finally, the geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model and Geodetector model was used to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution and determinants of CCD in 31 provinces of China from 2002 to 2021.ResultsFrom 2002 to 2021, the CCD of health resource supply-demand in China improved significantly, increasing from 0.400 to 0.804, reaching a good coupling coordination level. Although the regional coefficient of variation (CV) of CCD decreased from 0.225 to 0.206, regional heterogeneity persisted, with the eastern region exhibiting the highest coordination, followed by the central, western, and northeastern regions. Analysis using Geodetector and GTWR models identified key spatiotemporal determinants. Notably, education level emerged as the core factor explaining the spatial heterogeneity (q = 0.608), and its interaction with urbanization (q = 0.885) significantly amplified these spatial differences. Population density, government support, and transportation accessibility were also identified as important influencing factors.ConclusionsThe current healthcare supply-demand conflict in China is characterized by insufficient supply, low quality, and an irrational structure and layout. Although coupling coordination has improved under recent reforms and policies, challenges such as poor coordination degrees and significant regional disparities persist. The Chinese government should strengthen supply-side healthcare reforms to address regional disparities and enhance the coupling coordination of health resource supply and demand.

The coordinated development of water, energy, and food (WEF) is crucial to the fate and overall development plan of China in the new era. The aim of this study is to examine the coupling coordination of China's inter-provincial WEF security system, by using comprehensive development index model, coupling coordination model, the GM (1,1) gray forecast model, and China's provincial panel data from 2004 to 2021. The results of the study showed that the coupling coordination of China's inter-provincial WEF security system has significantly improved, adjusting from a near imbalance in 2004 to a good coupling coordination state in 2021. As of 2021, 13 provinces in China have entered a state of good coupling coordination. The forecast results display that the coupling coordination level of China's WEF security will show a significant upward trend from 2022 to 2030. By 2030, 22 provinces in the country are expected to achieve good coupling coordination or above. And 13 of these countries will achieve a high-quality coupling coordination.

A supply of high-quality cultural tourism products effectively promotes people's happiness. This study takes the coupling and coordination relationship between cultural tourism (CT) and objective well-being (OWB) in western China as the research object and constructs an index evaluation system for the development levels of cultural tourism and objective welfare, which are divided into three development stages of dysfunctional, transitional, and coordinated development and 10 coordination levels, including high-quality coordination. The entropy weight method, coupled coordination model, Thiel index, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation were used to calculate the comprehensive development index and coupling coordination degree of the CT and OWB systems in western China from 2007 to 2020, and then their evolution characteristics were analyzed from the perspectives of time and space. The results show the following: (1) The comprehensive development capacity of the CT and OWB systems in the western region shows a relatively consistent growth trend except for 2020, the overall development capacity of objective welfare was relatively high, and the development capacity of cultural tourism was relatively low. (2) The CT and OWB systems were in a state of transition from high coupling and low coordination to high coupling and high coordination, which were divided into three development stages: imbalanced stage (2007-2008), transitional stage (2009-2011), and coordinated development (2012-2020). The coordination degree has developed steadily from moderate misalignment to good coordination over time, and the diversified characteristics of coupling coordination levels are obvious. (3) The spatial equilibrium of the CT and OWB systems is obvious, and the spatial difference in the western region is getting smaller, but the relative gap is widening significantly. (4) The comprehensive development capacity of the cultural tourism system should be enhanced, the spiritual needs of residents based on objective well-being should be met, and the sustainable development of the CT and OWB systems.

When studying the coupling coordination relationship between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization, it is crucial to consider food security, especially in a populous country like China. This paper focuses on 31 provinces in China as the research units, covering the time period from 2000 to 2020. Based on the concept of agricultural eco-efficiency, an evaluation index system was developed to include undesirable outputs (carbon emissions), and agricultural eco-efficiency scores were calculated using the SBM–DEA model. An urbanization evaluation index system, covering six dimensions and twelve indexes, was constructed. A comprehensive index of urbanization is measured using the entropy method. On this basis, a coupling coordination model was applied to quantify the relationship between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization at the provincial scale in China. The results showed that the agricultural eco-efficiency of all provincial units in China exhibited an overall trend of improvement. Average efficiency followed a spatial pattern of majority grain-consuming areas > grain production–consumption balance areas > majority grain-producing areas. The level of coupling between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization is generally low. Currently, no regions have reached the stage of synergy or high-level coupling. Most regions are currently in an antagonistic stage with a coupling degree of 0.3 < C ≤ 0.5. The classification of coupling coordination levels changed from four levels of “severe imbalance”, “moderate imbalance”, “mild imbalance”, and “primary coordination” to “moderate imbalance”, “mild imbalance”, “primary coordination”, and “intermediate coordination”. The level of “severe imbalance” disappeared, the level of “intermediate coordination” appeared, and the level of “mild imbalance” became the largest scale level. From the perspective of food security, the proportion of grain production in the categories of “primary coordination” and “intermediate coordination” was less than 10%, and these provinces never achieved self-sufficiency in food production. The proportion of grain production at the “mild imbalance” level reached 62.4%, while the per capita grain production at the “moderate imbalance” level reached 846.7 kg. Provinces with lower levels of coupling coordination have stronger food security capabilities. It can be observed that the weaker the coupling coordination between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization, the higher the food self-sufficiency. Based on the research results above, we discussed strategies to enhance agricultural eco-efficiency in majority grain-producing regions by focusing on technological progress and technical efficiency. Additionally, we analyzed approaches to achieve grain self-sufficiency in regions characterized by a high level of coordination between agricultural eco-efficiency and urbanization, considering both production and trade dimensions.

The coupling coordination between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development has become an inevitable choice to promote economic high-quality development in China. This paper conducts an empirical analysis of the coupling coordination degree between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development via the entropy evaluation method, coupling coordination model, Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition, and β spatial convergence model, based on the spatial data of 31 provinces in China for a time period ranging from 2008 to 2020. The major research findings of this study are as follows: (1) the coupling coordination between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development represents a whole steady-upward trend in China, with large regional differences. (2) There is a gradual decrease in the overall spatial difference of the coupling coordination, with the largest intra-regional difference in the eastern region, and significant inter-regional differences in the east-west, east-northeast, and east-central regions. Moreover, the hypervariable density serves as the major source of the regional differences. (3) There exists β Convergence for coupling coordination degrees of the whole country and the four regions. However, the spatial effects are different in different regions due to different influencing factors. Therefore, sufficient attention should be paid to the dynamic trend, the difference, and the imbalance of the coupling coordination degree between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development. The research is of great significance for accurately implementing policies according to different levels of local resource endowments and economic development, and narrowing the regional differences of the coupling coordination between the digital economy and industrial green high-quality development.

In order to achieve the sustainable utilization of water resources and the sustainable development of the economy, an evaluation index system for water-use efficiency and economic development systems was constructed. The entropy weight and the comprehensive evaluation methods were adopted to determine the index weights and conduct a comprehensive evaluation for the two systems. A coupling coordination model was used to calculate the coupling degree, coordination degree, and coupling coordination degree of the two systems. The annual coupling stage and coupling coordination intensity of the two systems were analyzed and determined. The results showed that the comprehensive evaluation values of both the water-use efficiency system and the economic development system in Jinan increased greatly from 2008 to 2017, and showed a changing trend of ups and downs. The two systems were in the antagonistic stage, and were gradually approaching the running-in stage, indicating that they were in the state of common development. The coupling coordination degree of the two systems gradually increased in waves, progressing from moderately to highly coordinated coupling. In the future, if the water control path appropriate to Jinan can be explored actively, the water-saving kinetic energy of economic development can be increased constantly, and the linkage effect between economic development and water resource utilization can be given full play. The two systems will then be in sync, enjoying a benign interaction and a healthy harmonious development.

PurposeThe coordinated development of the urbanization and construction industry is crucial for the sustainable development of cities. However, the coupling relationship and coordination mechanism between them remain unclear. To bridge this gap, this study attempts to explore the level of coupling coordination between new urbanization and construction industry development and investigate the critical driving factors influencing their coupling coordination degree.Design/methodology/approachBy referring to the existing literature, two index systems were established to evaluate the development level of the new urbanization and construction industry. The spatiotemporal characteristics of the coupled coordinated development of the new urbanization and construction industry in China from 2014 to 2020 were investigated using the coupling coordination model. The Markov chain and geographic detector were adopted to understand the transition probability and driving factors of the coupling coordination degree.FindingsThe results indicate that the coupling degree of China's new urbanization and construction industry is high, and the two systems exhibit obvious interaction phenomena. However, the construction industry in most provinces lags behind the new urbanization. A positive interactive relationship and coordination mechanism has not been established between the two systems. Furthermore, the coupling contribution degree of the driving factors from high to low is as follows: market size > labor resource concentration > government investment ability > economic development level > industrial structure > production efficiency > technology level. Accordingly, a driving mechanism including market, policy, economic, and production technology drivers was developed.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing a set of scientific analysis methods to address the deficiency of coordination mechanism research on new urbanization and the construction industry. The results also provide a theoretical basis for decision makers to develop differentiated sustainable development policies.

An efficiency evaluation of China’s regional sustainable innovation, evaluating industrial waste and total energy consumption, is the main research subject in this paper. It focuses on a regional measurement and comparison of these undesirable outputs of Chinese firm activities, such as industrial SO2 and CO2 emissions. By applying a data envelopment analysis–slack-based measure (DEA–SBM) model with undesirable outputs indicators, the regional innovation efficiency was evaluated for 30 provinces in China, from 2002 to 2014. The results indicate that the sustainable innovation efficiency of overall China is still relatively low, and varies significantly in different regions. Central and Western China have similar sustainable innovation efficiencies, which are much lower than the sustainable innovation efficiency in Eastern China. Furthermore, the data indicate that regional sustainable innovation efficiency disparities among these three areas are decreasing. Based on these findings, reasons for the sustainable innovation efficiency gap among the different regions were analyzed. To scholars, this paper extends the research on regional sustainable innovation efficiency by implementing an undesirable output perspective to the DEA–SBM model. The findings also provide Chinese policy makers with useful decision support insights for regional sustainable innovation, and energy conservation and emission reduction policies.

Coordination of rural industrial convergence and ecological environment is an important issue in rural social and economic development. This study aims to introduce a comprehensive evaluation index system and construct an integrated approach to evaluate and predict the coupling coordination between rural industrial convergence and ecological environment. Firstly, an index system including 40 indexes is developed for evaluating the two subsystems, and then entropy weight method is applied to determine the weights. Finally, a coupling coordination model and a grey prediction model are developed using provincial panel data from 2017 to 2021 for 29 provinces in China. There are three main findings: 1) penetration of new technologies and agricultural industrialization are the main driving factors of rural industrial convergence. In the three dimensions of ecological environment, environmental pressure has been the smallest contributor, implying that environmental pressure in rural China still needs attention in the next decade. 2) the coupling coordination between rural industrial convergence and ecological environment shows a fluctuating upward trend in China during the studied period and will continue to rise in the next 12 years. Among the 29 provinces studied, only 4 eastern developed provinces have reached primary coordination. The forecast data suggests that coordination with ecological environment will promote the development of rural industrial convergence. 3) the spatial differences of the coupling coordination are related to the level of economic and cultural development, application of agricultural technology, convergence of information technology, energy consumption structure and stock of natural resources. In conclusion, the research develops a rational index system and an effective approach to measure and predict the coupling coordination between rural industrial convergence and ecological environment, providing a theoretical basis for the environmental considerations in the rural industrial convergence policy-making.

Under the background that the country is vigorously promoting the construction of new urbanization and seeking green development, this paper takes 31 provinces of China as the research object. It constructs a comprehensive evaluation system that integrates new urbanization and green economy into the same research framework, analyzes the evolution characteristics of new urbanization and green economy from the scale analysis of time and space, and, through the relative development model, coupling coordination model, and the random panel Tobit model, further explores the relative development and coupling coordination relationship between the two, deconstructing the internal driving factors. Research shows that the regional differences in the development level of new urbanization are decreasing year by year, while the efficiency of the green economy is increasing yearly. The relative development types of the two have obvious regional distribution characteristics. The level of coupling coordination gradually increases over time. The impact of economic development and growth, urban construction, regional opening up, urban expansion, government investment, industrialization level, and industrial structure on the coupling coordination degree of new urbanization and green economy is inconsistent.

As one of China's sunrise industries, tourism has always been the engine to promote the development of the national economy, and in 2018, the annual income of China's tourism industry exceeded 5 trillion yuan unprecedentedly. In recent years, the traditional extensive production mode has inevitably brought about problems such as environmental pollution and public health threats, while helping the development of new urbanization, thus triggering a series of challenges in the environmental health system. The tourism industry, new urbanization, and environmental health system three cooperate and promote each other, the coordinated development between them for economic growth, new urbanization development, environmental protection, and public health play a vital role, in the post-epidemic era is a special period of historical opportunities, the public's focus from the original sacrifice of environmental health in exchange for economic growth model began to green, low-carbon sustainable development mode, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as a tourism resource endowment rich region, It is of positive significance to explore the coupling degree and coordination between the tourism industry, new urbanization and environmental health system, and put forward targeted practical enlightenment, which is of positive significance for promoting the sustainable development of tourism industry. Taking Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as a case study, this paper constructs three comprehensive evaluation index systems of the tourism industry, new urbanization and environmental health system, and analyzes and compares the weights of various indicators in the three fields of tourism economy, new urbanization and environmental health system in Guangxi by using the entropy weight TOPSIS method. The coupling coordination model was used to measure the coupling degree and coordination degree of the tourism industry, new urbanization and environmental health system construction in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from 2009 to 2021. The empirical results show that the weights of various indicators change with the development of the social economy. The comprehensive efficacy index of Guangxi's tourism industry has increased year by year for 11 consecutive years; At the end of the evaluation period, after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the evaluation index of the tourism industry, new urbanization and environmental health system all showed a downward trend to varying degrees. Before the pandemic, the coupling coordination type of the three subsystems generally experienced a transformation of "moderate dissonance-reluctant coordination-primary coordination-intermediate coordination," but the overall development level was still poor. After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the coupling and coordination between the three has been reduced to a state of poor coordination. Because of the above research conclusions, this study proposes to make full use of the important time node of the post-epidemic era and proposes to actively promote the development of the tourism industry, promote the upgrading of the industrial structure, use digital empowerment of the economic form, optimize the environmental health system and other targeted countermeasures to keep the coupling degree and coordination between the three within a reasonable range. This ensures the sustainable development of social systems in the region. This study has made some contributions to the development of high-quality tourism and a healthy environment. First of all, it enriches the content of the environmental health system. This study takes the ecological environment and atmospheric environment in the environmental health system as the entry point and adds the index content of the environmental health evaluation system, which provides a certain supplement for the relevant research on the environmental health system strength. Secondly, the relationship between the tourism industry, new urbanization and environmental health is analyzed and into a unified theoretical framework. This study takes the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which is rich in tourism resources, as a case study site, and innovatively explores the coupling and coordination relationship among the tourism industry, new urbanization and environmental health system in the case site. Finally, it provides targeted countermeasures for the sustainable development path of the three systems of tourism industry, new urbanization and environmental health in the case site in the future. It is of positive practical significance to compare the coupling and coordination degree between the three, realize the coordinated, orderly, and healthy development of the three in the region, and provide operational suggestions for the upgrading of the tourism industry structure, the benign development of new urbanization, and the formulation of environmental health system policies.

Based on the coupling coordination model, this paper intends to use the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2000 to 2019, analyze the coupling and coupling coordination relationship between environmental regulation and green water resource efficiency (GWRE), and explore the space-time pattern of coupling coordination. The results show that: (1) The overall level of environmental regulation in China is showing increasingly stringent characteristics, and the overall GWRE is showing an upward trend. Both show spatial differences, and there is a strong correlation between the spatial spillover of environmental regulation and the improvement of GWRE. (2) The environmental regulation and GWRE in China have not yet achieved the benign resonance goal of high coupling. It is overall manifested as a medium-coupled run-in and a medium-coupled coordination. (3) The space-time evolution characteristics are prominent, and the coupling coordination degree of different provinces (regions) shows a more significant difference, showing the spatial pattern of higher in the eastern region and lower in the west region. Therefore, some policy suggestions are put forward on how to break through the bottleneck of environmental regulation for the improvement of GWRE and how to optimize the external environment in which the government optimizes environmental regulation to inhibit the efficiency of green water resources.