Abstract
Innovation is an important motivating force for regional sustainable development. This study measures the innovation efficiency of 280 cities in China from 2014–2018 using the super-efficiency slack-based measure and it also analyzes its impact on the ecological footprint using the generalized spatial two-stage least squares (GS2SLS) method and uses the threshold regression model to explore the threshold effect of innovation efficiency on the ecological footprint at different economic development levels. We find the corresponding transmission mechanism by using a mediating effect model. The major findings are as follows. First, we find an inverse U-shaped relationship between innovation efficiency and the ecological footprint for cities across China as well as in the eastern and central regions. That is, innovation efficiency promotes then suppresses the ecological footprint. Conversely, in western and northeastern China, improvements in innovation efficiency still raise the ecological footprint. Second, for the entire country, as economic development increases from below one threshold value (4.4928) to above another (4.8245), the elasticity coefficient of innovation efficiency to the ecological footprint changes from −0.0067 to −0.0313. This indicates that the ability of innovation efficiency improvements to reduce the ecological footprint is gradually enhanced with increased economic development. Finally, the industrial structure, the energy structure, and energy efficiency mediate the impacts of innovation efficiency on the ecological footprint.
Highlights
Despite significant global development in industrialization and urbanization, demand for Earth’s resources has exceeded reasonable limits
This study used panel data from 280 Chinese cities from 2014 to 2018 and the GS2SLS method to investigate the relationship between innovation efficiency and the ecological footprint
The impact of innovation efficiency on the ecological footprint and its transmission mechanism were discussed at different economic development levels
Summary
Despite significant global development in industrialization and urbanization, demand for Earth’s resources has exceeded reasonable limits. Environmental pollution, and serious resource depletion have caused severe problems worldwide. The current ecological and environmental crisis threatens the sustainable development of humans and the regional environment [1]. A continuous increase in the global ecological footprint caused by economic growth, industrial structure changes, and increased energy consumption was revealed by measuring the ecological footprint of 144 countries from 1988 to 2008 [2]. China’s Ecological Footprint Report 2015, published by the World Wide Fund for Nature [3], reported that China is consuming at a rate of 2.2× its ecological resources. China’s ecological footprint accounts for one-sixth of the world’s total, more than any other country
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