Abstract
An extended total factor productivity method is developed for measuring the quality of economic growth (QEG). Specifically, criteria for judging the QEG are first elaborated using endogenous economic growth theory, and subsequently, an assessment index system for evaluating QEG is constructed. In this system, the production factors primarily include labor, material capital, education, medical and health, environmental resource, and social security, while the output indexes comprise the gross domestic product (GDP), employment rate, income gap, and environmental pollution. In the empirical study, the directional distance function and Global Malmquist-Luenberger index are implemented to examine the QEG in China from 2000 to 2016 by provinces, regions, and factor decomposition, respectively. The global scale technological change and global pure technological change are the main sources for improving the QEG. The results also reveal a considerable widespread inefficiency and uneven development of the QEG. In general, from the eastern to western to central regions, the QEG becomes noticeably lower; The investment level is not only a driving force for economic growth, but also a source for boosting the QEG. These findings will provide a reference for China in adjusting relevant investments, ameliorating environmental conditions, and accomplishing the unity of quantity, quality, and efficiency in economic growth.
Highlights
From 1979 to 2010 (32 years), China’s economy grew rapidly, with 16 years of growth when the growth rate exceeded 10%
The Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index was utilized to compute the total factor productivity (TFP) index of economic growth, and this calculation result will be referred as the quality of economic growth index (QEGI)
We proposed to utilize the input-output efficiency of economic growth as a criterion to evaluate the QEG, and selected the GML index method to assess the quality of the economic growth index (QEGI) and factor decomposition for China from 2000 to 2016
Summary
From 1979 to 2010 (32 years), China’s economy grew rapidly, with 16 years of growth when the growth rate exceeded 10%. Many scholars have studied the roles of TFP in measuring China’s economic progress [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15] In their calculation of TFP, only the input constraints on the production factors, e.g., labor and capital, etc., are involved; the influence from other factors on the QEG was ignored. Tu and Liu (2011) [20] conducted an empirical analysis of China’s environmental efficiency under the constraints of resources and environment from 1998 to 2008 These studies are an improvement and development of the assessment of the QEG in terms of the TFP.
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