Interprovincial two-stage water resource utilization efficiency under environmental constraint and spatial spillover effects in China

Abstract

Although existing studies have paid much attention to the measurement model of water resource utilization efficiency, they have failed to consider the spatial spillover effect of some influencing factors of water resource utilization efficiency, causing biased results. This study measures the water resource utilization efficiency of 31 provincial administrative regions in China from 2001 to 2014 and the efficiency of each stage by adopting a slack-based efficiency evaluation model based on the relaxation of two stages to consider undesirable output. Then, this study employs a spatial Durbin econometric model by considering spatial effect to analyze the influencing factors of the overall efficiency of water resource utilization by per capita water resources, industrial water, living water consumption, per capita gross domestic product, degree of opening to the outside world, industrial structure, technological progress, and other aspects. By comparison, existing studies do not consider the spatial spillover effect. This study estimates the direct and indirect effects of the influencing factors of water resource utilization efficiency to distinguish local and neighbors' impacts of influencing factors of water resource utilization efficiency. The results are as follows. (1) First-stage overall efficiency is significantly higher than second-stage water resource utilization efficiency, overall efficiency is close to second-stage efficiency, and second-stage efficiency determines the overall effectiveness of water resource utilization. (2) The spatial autocorrelation intensity of water resource utilization overall efficiency is significantly greater than zero, and water resource utilization overall efficiency presents concentration distribution in the space for which the eastern coastal regions are high–high type and the central and western regions are low–low type. (3) The overall efficiency of water resource utilization has spatial spillover effects, and the region's overall efficiency is influenced by both region and neighborhood region. (4) The direct and indirect effects of domestic water consumption, degree of opening up, and industrial structure are the primary significant influencing factors of overall efficiency of water resources in China. The spatial spillover effects of domestic water consumption and industrial structure have a significant impact. To improve water resource utilization efficiency, the government and citizens should focus on such solutions as pollution reduction, domestic water savings, and transforming the industrial structure. Moreover, China should consider the spatial effects of these influencing factors when government policies are designed.