Abstract
Public–private partnership (PPP), an innovative mode of infrastructure investment, has been widely applied in China and has become an essential policy tool with which to promote sustainable economic development. In order to comprehensively evaluate the economic consequences, using 31 provinces in China from 2003 to 2018 as samples, first, stochastic frontier analysis was performed to measure the input–output efficiency of infrastructure investment to evaluate the economic sustainability and efficiency of PPP compared to single government-led investment mode. Next, the overall economic growth effect of PPP was verified. Further, from the perspective of sustainable development of regional economies, the double-fixed effect spatial Durbin model was adopted to empirically test the spatial spillover effect of PPP and clarify its industrial heterogeneity. The results show the following. (1) The average input–output efficiency of infrastructure is 0.449, revealing a distribution law of decreasing from east to west and remarkable regional variation. However, a good trend of improvement emerged, reflecting the economic sustainability of infrastructure investment, and PPP has played a positive role in promoting it. (2) PPP has significant and positive economic growth and spatial spillover effects, which can promote regional economic integration, embodying its economic sustainability function. (3) The economic impact of PPP has significant industrial heterogeneity. Transportation PPP can bring greater economic benefits, confirming the vital position of transportation infrastructure in the sustainable development of regional economies. Energy and water PPP have positive externalities. All of this provides powerful and reliable proof of the realization of sustainable economic development under the regional virtuous circle driven by infrastructure investment through PPP.
Highlights
Interconnected infrastructure is an essential foundation for sustainable economic development
PPP is positively correlated with the input–output efficiency of infrastructure
This paper shows that PPP has a positive spatial spillover effect and significant industrial heterogeneity, suggesting that PPP infrastructure investment can promote regional economic integration development and PPP in transportation can bring greater economic benefits
Summary
Interconnected infrastructure is an essential foundation for sustainable economic development. This paper conducts a comprehensive empirical examination of the impact of PPP on China’s sustainable economic development from the dual dimensions of efficiency evaluation and spatial spillover based on the perspective of sustainability, and further explores the industrial heterogeneity of PPP to get more detailed conclusions. The main contributions and added value are as follows: (1) the input–output efficiency of infrastructure is scientifically evaluated and the implementation effect of PPP in China is verified, which has important practical significance for further improvement and promotion of PPP; (2) the spatial effect mechanism and effect of PPP are clarified, which bridges the gaps in the existing research and represents a useful attempt to approach this issue from the spatial economic perspective; and (3) the industrial heterogeneity of PPP in economic development is explored, which provides a reference basis for the development of PPP in different fields.
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