Abstract
Electricity supply quality (ESQ) is critical for healthy economic production, and regional differences in ESQ can widen economic development gaps. To contribute to a more equitable regional development, this study first develops a Gini index of ESQ distribution to measure the inequality among different cities. Then, an econometric model based on the Cobb–Douglas production function is established to quantify the effects of ESQ on regional economy. Finally, we estimate the impacts of ESQ improvement on reducing the economic inequality. The main results show that: (1) Substantial differences exist among the regional ESQ, and the national GDP-based ESQ Gini index was 0.720 in 2018. (2) A GDP-based Lorenz curve has a higher Gini coefficient than the population-based one does, while inequalities in cites are greater than those in rural areas. (3) The ESQ has significant impacts on the regional economic output, and a 1% reduction in the ESQ will, on average, reduce the city-level output by 0.142%. (4) ESQ improvement can significantly narrow the economic gap by up to 24.9%, that is, the ESQ Gini index of GDP distribution will decrease from 0.329 to 0.247 according to our scenario designs.
Highlights
Poverty eradication and sustainable energy supply are two of the 17 UN sustainable development goals (SDGs)
Some studies explore the Gini index to measure the inequality of the energy or electricity consumption [31,39]; few studies have used the Gini index to measure the inequality of Electricity supply quality (ESQ)
Compared with an annual average Gini decrease of 0.15% from 2003 to 2018 and an annual average Gini increase of 0.43% in the last three years according to Appendix B [55], we can confirm that the ESQ improvement can effectively bridge the regional economic gap
Summary
Poverty eradication and sustainable energy supply are two of the 17 UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). High levels of asset or income inequality may hurt economic growth [1,2], and deficient power supply will hinder economic development [3]. After the development in the past few decades, China has made remarkable achievements, with its GDP increasing from CNY 0.37 trillion in 1978 to CNY 91.93 trillion in 2018. The imbalance of regional development and inequality has been raising concerns from all walks of life. No matter which value is adopted, the Gini coefficient of China’s income is much higher than that of most peaceful countries, which reflects the inequality of distribution in China. Narrowing the economic development gap between different regions is of great significance to the high-quality development of China’s economy
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