Investigating the role of international industrial transfer and technology spillovers on industrial land production efficiency: Fresh evidence based on Directional Distance Functions for Chinese provinces

Abstract

Participation in international industrial transfer (IIT) provides a significant opportunity and a motivation to improve China's industrial land production efficiency (ILPE). This study aims to investigate the overall role, heterogeneous impact and indirect mechanism of IIT in improving Chinese ILPE. This paper uses the Directional Distance Functions - Data Envelope Analysis (DDF-DEA) model to measure ILPE, economic output efficiency, and pollution reduction efficiency, the Global Malmquist Luenberger (GML) index to decompose the growth of ILPE into “technical efficiency change (EC)” and “technological change (TC)”. The panel data of Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2018 and the Fixed-Effect model is used to examine the impact of IIT on ILPE. The primary outcomes suggest that participation in IIT has generally improved the ILPE in China. This promotion effect is evident after 2010, and IIT has a significant impact on the improvement of ILPE in extensive and inefficient areas. Similarly, IIT promotes the economic output efficiency of industrial land from the perspective of expected output and reduces unexpected output. This impact helps in improving pollution reduction efficiency of industrial land. The technology spillover brought by IIT improves the Chinese ILPE from two channels, including promoting technological progress and improving technical efficiency. However, the technology spillover mainly promotes the ILPE in land use high-efficient areas by promoting technological progress. Likewise, the ILPE is promoted by improving technical efficiency from a regional perspective in extensive and inefficient areas. This study provides valuable insights for the improvement of ILPE to optimize land resources.