Ecological Efficiency of China's Marine Economy: A Convergence Analysis

Abstract

Wang, L.; Qiu, X.; Liu, Z., and Chen, S., 2019. Ecological efficiency of China's marine economy: A convergence analysis. In: Gong, D.; Zhu, H., and Liu, R. (eds.), Selected Topics in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 983–987. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.This paper uses the Minimal Distance to Strong Efficient Frontier (mSBM) method to measure the marine ecological efficiency (eco-efficiency) of 11 coastal provinces in China. Based on this, it further analyses the impact of Chinese marine Malmquist index, efficiency change (EC) and technological change (TC) on the differences of economic growth in the marine regions and also the trend of evolution over time. The results show that China's marine eco-efficiency is positively correlated with the proportion of the secondary industry, and the Yangtze River Delta has the highest marine eco-efficiency; the difference in TC is the main reason for the ME growth difference in marine economy (ME) between the three major economic zones: the circum-Bohai sea, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pan-Pearl River Delta. The convergence test results show that the Malmquist index of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Economic zone has a σ convergence trend, and the Malmquist index of all zones has an absolute β convergence trend, indicating that the regional gap of China's ME is gradually narrowing.