Abstract
Ecological efficiency (eco-efficiency) reflects the synergetic degree of the development of resource, economic, and environmental systems. This paper measures urban eco-efficiency based on a nonconvex metafrontier data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach using data from 191 cities in China during the years of 2003 to 2013. In particular, the impacts of dynamic agglomeration externalities on urban eco-efficiency are investigated. Our empirical results show that eco-efficiency decreased from 2003 to 2013, and its spatial distribution demonstrates significant regional heterogeneity. Additionally, there exists an inverted U-shape relationship between dynamic externalities, including Marshall-Arrow-Romer (MAR), Jacobs and Porter externalities, and eco-efficiency. We also find that eco-efficiency can be enhanced by strengthening environmental regulations, optimizing industrial structures, and improving technological capacity. These findings are robust to alternative eco-efficiency measures, model specifications, and estimation approaches. Furthermore, we discuss related policy implications of our research results.
Highlights
In this paper, we investigate how dynamic agglomeration externalities of Chinese prefecture-level cities relate to ecological efficiency
To investigate the nonlinear effects of dynamic agglomeration externalities on urban eco-efficiency, we introduce the quadratic term of dynamic agglomeration externalities into the empirical model, which is specified as eeit = c + β 0 extit + β 1 ext2it + Xξ + μi + τt + uit where eeit is the eco-efficiency of city i in period t, extit indicates the agglomeration dynamic externalities of city i in period t, ext2it is the quadratic term of extit, X denotes control variables, μi and τt represent the individual fixed and time fixed effects, and uit captures the stochastic perturbation
We study the dynamic effects of eco-efficiency by introducing its lagged term into Equation (1), which is estimated as eeit = c + αeeit−1 + β 0 extit + β 1 ext2it + Xξ + μi + τt + uit where eeit−1 denotes the lagged term of eco-efficiency of city i in period t and α represents the impact of eeit−1 on eeit
Summary
We investigate how dynamic agglomeration externalities of Chinese prefecture-level cities relate to ecological efficiency ( eco-efficiency). We examine the nonlinear effects that Marshall-Arrow-Romer (MAR), Jacobs, and Porter externalities exert on eco-efficiency. The formation of industrial clusters can improve resources utilization efficiency, positively impacting eco-efficiency. Industrial over-agglomeration may have negative influences on eco-efficiency because of the potential severe environmental pollution. The relationship between dynamic agglomeration externalities and eco-efficiency may show significant inverted U-shape form. To test this hypothesis, we empirically study the nonlinear effects of dynamic agglomeration externalities on China’s eco-efficiency using data from 191 cities during the years of 2003 to 2013
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