Abstract
With the rapid economic development in China, substantial capital and resources are invested in urban logistics industry leading to quick expansion of the urban logistics. In this paper, the efficiency and energy efficiency of the urban logistics industry in China is measured through a stochastic frontier analysis based on a translog production function for a period of 2009–2017 using a sample of 216 prefecture-level cities. The results lead to several conclusions. (1) Average urban logistics efficiency and energy efficiency scores are at low levels and unbalanced between sample cities over the research period. Cities located in the eastern coastal region have the largest average efficiency scores, the central region has lower scores, and the western region has the lowest. (2) The difference in logistics efficiency between sample cities shows a downward trend for the entire country and eastern region. (3) Technical change plays an important role in promoting urban logistics efficiency. Technical inefficiency is the main cause of the nonefficient frontier of urban logistics. (4) Using the regression analysis, we found that digitalization and road density are positively correlated with the efficiency of urban logistics. Education has a long-term effect on the improvement of the urban logistics efficiency. In contrast, government intervention and environmental regulations are negatively correlated with the efficiency of urban logistics. (5) The effect of most factors on urban logistics efficiency across the sample stratified between eastern, central, and western regions is in line with the estimation results for the whole sample.
Highlights
Cities are gathering places of production factors, as Lucas described in his classic work “On the Mechanics of Economic Development.” Cities have played a critical role in the growth of regional economies [1]
Government intervention and environmental regulations are negatively correlated with the efficiency of urban logistics. (5) e effect of most factors on urban logistics efficiency across the sample stratified between eastern, central, and western regions is in line with the estimation results for the whole sample
4.1. e Choice of the Production Function. ere is time lag from the input of capital investment into logistics infrastructure to output of urban logistics development reflected by indicators of the value added by the logistics industry, freight quantity, and freight turnover
Summary
Cities are gathering places of production factors, as Lucas described in his classic work “On the Mechanics of Economic Development.” Cities have played a critical role in the growth of regional economies [1]. At the same time, such rapid development of China’s logistics industry inevitably brings up environmental and social problems, such as voluminous fossil energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. Erefore, it is necessary and urgent to estimate the efficiency and energy efficiency of China’s urban logistics and analyze the influencing factors, especially impact of environmental regulations and government intervention on the efficiency and energy efficiency of urban logistics. We focus on researching the efficiency and energy efficiency of the logistics industry in 216 prefecturelevel cities in China. We study the heterogeneity of urban logistics efficiency in the eastern, central, and western regions in China, which have different levels of economic development, and analyze the effect of factors influencing urban logistics efficiency.
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