Do the national industrial relocation demonstration zones have higher regional energy efficiency?

Abstract

The National Industrial Relocation Demonstration Zones serve as an important platform for optimizing spatial layout of productivity and promoting coordinated regional development. The impact of the establishment of demonstration zones on regional total factor energy efficiency remains unclear. This paper used dynamic slacks-based measurement method to measure the total factor energy efficiency of prefecture-level cities from 2005 to 2017. A Difference-in-Differences method is used to examine the policy effect of demonostration zones on regional energy efficiency. The results indicate that the average energy efficiency of these regions shows a downward trend within the observation interval. The establishment of the National Industrial Relocation Demonstration Zones has reduced the energy efficiency of the demonstration zones and not promoted the advanced development of industrial structure. Foreign Direct Investment and government intervention are the main reasons for the decline of total factor energy efficiency in the region. These findings have significant implications for the design of future policy which can promote the high-quality development of the central and western regions through industry transfer.