Inter-regional economic spillover and carbon productivity embodied in trade: empirical study from the Pan-Yangtze River Delta Region.

Abstract

How to promote the carbon productivity embodied in trade and regional balanced development has become the focus of attention to combat climate change and improve regional management. Taking the Pan-Yangtze River Delta region for example and based on the input-output model, thispaper exploredthe relationship between inter-industry economic spillover and embodied carbon productivity in trade from 2007 to 2012. Results indicated that the intra-regional multiplier effect presented a slow downward trend during the studied period, while the trend in the inter-regional integration was intensifying. Moreover, the multiplier effect of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River was relatively lower than that of the middle reaches. Owing to the geographical location and industrial structure, the industries in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were strongly correlated. In addition, the regional multiplier effect was mostly concentrated in industries with high carbon emission intensity. The economic spillovers between regions showed a growing trend from 2007 to 2012, indicating that regional economic integration was further strengthened, and the economic spillovers in the Yangtze River Delta region were significantly higher than those in the middle reaches. Furthermore, from the perspective of embodied carbon productivity in trade, most of Shanghai's carbon productivity to other regions was mostly less than 10,000 Yuan per ton, which means Shanghai had little demand for intermediate products of other regions, and inter-regionaltrade between Shanghai and other regions brought less total output and more environmental pollution to other regions, while Shanghai obtained more total output through trade. As embodied carbon productivity in trade in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was more than 10,000 Yuan per ton, Jiangsu and Zhejiang had played an important role in realizing the coordinated development of low carbon in the Pan-Yangtze River Delta. In particular, for Anhui and Jiangxi, embodied carbon productivity in the Yangtze River Delta region was relativelylow. Therefore, in order to achieve green, coordinated, and high-quality economic development in the Pan-Yangtze River Delta region, Anhui and Jiangxi should not only strengthen regional cooperation with Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, but also they should avoid regional zero-sum game competition in regional climate policy. In other words, for policy-makers in the Pan-Yangtze River Delta, promoting the deep integration of industrial chain and regional coordinated development, and thus, improving carbon productivity during the regional development process, should receive more attention.