Examining the spatiotemporal evolution, dynamic convergence and drivers of green total factor productivity in China’s urban agglomerations

Abstract

This study investigates the green total factor productivity of urban agglomerations, a high-level urban organisational form, by estimating the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of 285 cities in China from 2003 to 2017 using global data envelopment analysis and a super-slack-based measure model with undesirable output. Based on these estimations, we obtain the GTFP of 19 urban agglomerations and analyse the spatiotemporal evolution, dynamic evolution of spatial distribution, and regional differences in the urban agglomeration GTFP using various analytical tools such as the Dagum Gini coefficient, subgroup decomposition, σ and β convergence analysis, and kernel density estimation. Additionally, we identify and analyse the driving factors of GTFP growth in urban agglomerations by employing a panel model from the perspective of improving the efficiency of cities within urban agglomerations and optimising the development of intercity industrial and spatial structures. The results are as follows: First, the GTFP of urban agglomerations generally exhibit a fluctuating upward trend with low values in northwest-central China and high values in the north-southeastern coastal areas. Second, the GTFP differences among the urban agglomerations present an overall convergent trend, with the smallest gap between the national-level urban agglomerations and a stable performance. The gaps between regional and local urban agglomerations undergo considerable narrowing of the evolutionary trend, whereas gaps between local urban agglomerations and other urban agglomerations keep expanding. Third, economic growth, environmental regulation, energy consumption, and foreign direct investment and technological progress are conducive to improving urban GTFP, and a U-shaped relationship exists between cooperative industrial agglomeration and urban agglomeration GTFP. We suggest that strengthening regional collaborative environmental governance can improve the GTFP in urban agglomerations.