Efficiency In China Research Articles

Does producer services agglomeration improve industrial energy efficiency in China?

Promoting structural transformation and energy efficiency improvement by grouping productive services is a significant action for China's targets of realizing carbon neutrality and carbon peak. This study employs the spatial Durbin model to explore the influences of the agglomeration of producer services (producer services agglomeration) on industrial energy efficiency using panel data from China, specifically from its prefecture-level cities. It turned out that the specialization producer services agglomeration has effectively improved the industrial energy efficiency of the city and its adjacent areas. However, the producer services agglomeration in diverse fields only plays a positive stimulating role in the energy efficiency standards of the city. After changing the industrial energy efficiency index, and sample size and considering endogeneity, the test results agree with the benchmark estimation outcomes. Additional research indicates that technological spillovers and manufacturing production costs exert a significant mediation influence in the process of promoting energy efficiency by producer services agglomeration. Furthermore, the producer services agglomeration has a substantial heterogeneous effect on the industrial energy efficiency due to differences in industry types of producer services. The conclusion of this article is of considerable relevance for China to rely on the producer services agglomeration to support effective energy utilization, as well as green and sustainable economic development.

Productivity versus environmental sustainability: A broadscale assessment of freshwater aquaculture's technical efficiency and ecological efficiency in China's inland provinces

AbstractPromoting the productivity and environmental sustainability of aquaculture is critical in ensuring its healthy development. This study assesses freshwater aquaculture's technical efficiency and ecological efficiency in China's 19 inland provinces from 2008 to 2019, aiming to reveal its productivity and environmental sustainability status. We employ the three‐stage Data Envelopment Analysis‐CCR (T‐DEA‐CCR) and three‐stage Slack‐Based Measure‐DEA (T‐SBM‐DEA) methods to explore the technical efficiency and the ecological efficiency while accounting for environmental conditions and random errors. The average technical efficiency and ecological efficiency during 2008–2019 are 0.857 and 0.702, respectively, indicating substantial scope for enhancing the productivity and environmental sustainability of China's inland aquaculture. We further investigate the regional development using the club convergence, finding that the provincial‐level technical efficiencies have already achieved population convergence while the ecological efficiencies diverge into two clubs, suggesting that Chinese freshwater aquaculture's productivity and environmental sustainability have different development pathways. Acknowledging the pivotal roles of environmental protection and growers' training in aquaculture's productivity and environmental sustainability, policymakers may institute funding and recognition to foster the adoption of innovative, environmentally responsible practices by operators.

Determining optimal range of reduction rates for nitrogen fertilization based on responses of vegetable yield and nitrogen losses to reduced nitrogen fertilizer application

Vegetable production is commonly accompanied by high nitrogen fertilizer rates but low nitrogen use efficiency in China. Reduced fertilization has been frequently recommended in existing studies as an efficient measurement to avoid large amount of nutrient loss and subsequent nonpoint source pollution. However, the reported responses of vegetable yield and nitrogen losses to reduced fertilization rates varied in a large range, which has resulted into large uncertainties in the potential benefits of those recommended reduction rates. Thus, we constructed the relationship between responses of nitrogen losses and vegetable yield to reduced nitrogen fertilization rates to determine the optimal range of reduction rates for nitrogen fertilization in a proportional form based on data reported in literatures across China's mainland, and evaluated the roles of greenhouse, managing options, and vegetable species on the responses. The relationships were constructed separately for 4 subregions: Northern arid and semiarid, loess plateau regions (NSL), Temperate monsoon zone (TMZ), Southeast monsoon zone (SMZ), Southwest zone (SWZ). The optimal nitrogen fertilizer reduction range for the TMZ, SMZ and SWZ were 51 % to 67 %, 40 % to 66 % and 54 % to 80 %, respectively and no reduction for NSL. Vegetable yields were not be sacrificed when fertilizations were reduced within the optimal ranges. Greenhouse and managing options showed no significant effect on the responses of both vegetable yield and nitrogen losses by the optimal reduction range but vegetable species played a relatively important role on the responses of vegetable yield. This indicated that the optimal reduction rates can be effective on reducing nitrogen loss in both open-field and greenhouse conditions across China's mainland without extra managing options. Therefore, the optimal reduction rates can still serve as a good starting point for making regional plans of nitrogen reduction that help balancing the chasing of high vegetable yield and low nitrogen loss.

Impacts of digital finance on energy efficiency: does environmental regulation matter?

The paper examines how digital finance affects energy efficiency in China using a dynamic panel model and data from 282 cities between 2011 and 2019. The study is based on the hypothesis which is related with digital finance, environmental regulation, and energy efficiency. The results indicate that: (1) Digital finance significantly improves energy efficiency, and this finding is consistent after several tests; (2) Digital finance has a positive effect on energy efficiency in non-resource-based cities, recession and regeneration resource-based cities, and old industrial base cities, but no significant effect on energy efficiency in growth and maturity resource-based cities and non-old industrial base cities; (3) Environmental regulation positively influences how digital finance affects energy efficiency; (4) The impact of digital finance on energy efficiency depends on the degree and tools of environmental regulation. This research offers valuable insights to local governments in China for promoting financial digitization and enhancing energy efficiency.

Dynamic Coupling Analysis Between Scale of Network Retail Market and Green Circulation Efficiency

Abstract A sound circulation system is an important carrier for the development of the retail industry, and the promotion of green circulation efficiency (GCE) plays an important role in driving the market scale expansion of network retail (NR). This study uses the development status of China’s NR and circulation industries as basis to estimate the total carbon emissions (CE) of the circulation industry by using the system dynamics method. Moreover, this research measures China’s GCE by combining data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist index to construct a coupling analysis model to empirically investigate the dynamic coupling relationship between the NR scale and green circulation efficiency. Results indicate that China’s GCE is generally increasing, but growth rate fluctuates significantly. Additionally, the improvement of the quality and efficiency of China’s circulation industry has not yet formed a steady green path. China’s NR market scale continues to expand, but NR at this stage is still mainly concentrated in the eastern region. The efficiency of green circulation and scale of the NR market show a good coupling trend, but there is still a significant gap between the central and western regions. Accordingly, this study proposes that the construction of a green circulation system should be strengthened, and that the development of a green and efficient circulation industry should be taken as the engine of the NR scale expansion.

Spatiotemporal differences, dynamic evolution and trend of cultivated land use efficiency: Based on three food functional areas

China's agricultural development has entered a period of transition, and improving the cultivated land use efficiency (CLUE) is of great significance for guaranteeing national food security. Based on the province panel data in China from 2000 to 2021, this research calculates the cultivated land use efficiency, and uses the Dagum-Gini coefficient, Kernel density estimation, and Markov chain to conduct an in-depth analysis of CLUE's regional variations and distribution dynamics in three food functional areas (TFA) of China. The study results showed that the trend of CLUE was characterized by “increasing levels and decreasing absolute differences,” not only in the whole country but also in the TFA. The inter-regional variation among TFA is gradually narrowing, and the cross-group degree of inter-regional variation is on the rise. The upward probability of CLUE was more effective than the probability of a transitionary change, and the mutual influence of CLUE between neighboring cities would lead to spatial convergence in the level of CLUE in the long term. Therefore, improving CLUE in China's TFA should not only grasp the regional differences in CLUE but also actively utilize the spatial spillover effects among functional regions to realize the cross-regional synergistic development of cropland utilization efficiency in China.

Analysis of Packaging Recycling Mode in Chinese Express Delivery Industry

With the widespread adoption of smartphones and Internet technology, China's express delivery industry has experienced explosive growth. Concurrently, this surge has resulted in the substantial generation of express packaging waste, leading to substantial resource wastage and environmental pollution. There is a need to improve reuse of express packaging in order to reduce the express packaging garbage, and recycling constitutes a crucial step in the reutilization of express packaging materials. The purpose of this study is to investigate the recycling patterns in Chinese Express Industry. This study employed a systematic literature review synthesis method to assess trends, identify gaps, and recommend future approaches to enhance the reuse of express packaging. The focus was on analysing the recycling status, influencing factors, and improvement strategies related to express packaging recycling. Research findings indicate that the recycling of express packaging is confronted with challenges such as high recycling costs and low recycling efficiency in China. Therefore, this paper proposes the combination of low-cost standardized packaging for express delivery, along with consumer awareness of environmental protection and an efficient recycling system, can significantly boost the recycling and reutilization of express delivery packaging. This study will contribute to enhancing the reusability and recycling of express packaging by improving the recycling process, thereby reducing the generation of express waste and minimizing resource wastage.

Spatiotemporal variations, influencing factors, and configurational promotion paths of energy efficiency in China’s cities

The promotion of energy efficiency (EE) helps address energy constraints and promote environmental sustainability. This study comprehensively explores the spatiotemporal variations, influencing factors, and configuration promotion paths of EE in 284 Chinese cities during 2003‒2019 using the global super-efficiency minimum distance to strong efficient frontier (G-S-MinDS), exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR), and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methods. The findings are: ① China’s cities have an annual average EE of 0.658 with a growth rate of 0.53%, showing considerable promotion potential. ② Industrial structure optimization, population agglomeration, economic development, and increased green coverage contribute positively, while government intervention and openness hinder China’s urban EE. ③ Four configurational promotion paths for enhancing China’s urban EE are identified, where among those paths population density is a core condition, while government intervention is not. This study provides valuable insights into substantially improving urban EE, emphasizing the need for targeted policies to address energy and environmental crises in China.

Regional differences and improvement potential of carbon emission efficiency in China’s power industry: insights from meta-frontier DEA model considering integer constraints

Previous studies on the carbon emission efficiency (CEE) in the power industry have neglected concerns related to regional heterogeneity and the integer character of certain indicators. In response to these issues, this study proposes a meta-frontier DEA model that integrates integer constraints for evaluating the CEE of China’s provincial power industry from 2011 to 2021. This study also proposes to apply the Theil, technology gap ratio, and inefficiency decomposition indexes to analyze regional disparities, technological gaps, and strategies for enhancing CEE within China’s provincial power industry. The research findings highlight several key points. First, China’s power industry exhibits inefficiencies in CEE. The central region mainly contributes to the overall CEE decline, and approximately 70% of provinces demonstrate an average CEE below 0.70. Second, the technological level of the western region is leading, while that of the central region is the worst. Specifically, Ningxia, Hainan, and Jiangsu have the most advanced production technology levels. Third, substantial disparities in CEE within China’s power industry primarily stem from regional imbalances in development. Fourth, technical inefficiency contributed 68.24% of the CEE in the central region, and management inefficiency contributed 96.91% and 65.42% in the western and eastern regions, respectively. Overall, China’s power industry still has 37% potential for improvement.

A DEA game cross-efficiency based improved method for measuring urban carbon emission efficiency in China.

An accurate evaluation of carbon emission efficiency (CEE) at the city level can provide guidelines for understanding low carbon performance, which is crucial to achieving dual carbon targets. Existing CEE studies focused on national, industrial, and provincial scales while neglecting the city level and failing to consider competing relationships among decision-making units in their measurement models. To fill these gaps, this paper introduces the data envelopment analysis game cross-efficiency model (DEA-GCE) to measure urban CEE performance and compares it with the traditional Super-SBM model using the data from 283 Chinese cities between 2006 and 2019. The results show that (1) the DEA-GCE method provided more intensive and stable results. (2) Overall CEE of Chinese cities declined slightly amidst fluctuations during this period. (3) CEE in cities exhibits spatial clustering characteristics. CEE performance in Northeast China has improved, while CEE in Northwest China continues to lag behind. This study introduced an innovative method for calculating urban CEE and conducted an empirical study of 283 Chinese cities, which has implications for formulation of emission reduction policies.

Research on the Impact of Digital Finance on Energy Efficiency in China

Digital finance and green technology innovation (GTI) serve as powerful engines for promoting energy efficiency (EE) and economic development. This paper explores the mechanism by which digital finance impacts EE based on panel data from 30 provinces in China spanning from 2011 to 2019. The results demonstrate that digital finance can significantly enhance EE, with a particularly pronounced effect in the eastern region. Through mechanistic analysis, it is evident that GTI serves as the transmission pathway through which digital finance influences EE, accounting for 45.3% of the effect. The policy implication of this study suggests that China should expedite the digitization of financial markets to further harness the development of digital finance, particularly in pursuit of its technological innovation and green, low-carbon environmental protection effects.

Energy saving effects of digital technologies from a life-cycle-analytical perspective: evidence from China.

Digital technology has become a key driver of industrial transformation and resource utilization. However, no consensus has been reached on the exact relationship between digital technology and energy utilization. This study adopted a comprehensive index system to investigate the impact of digital technologies on energy utilization across 30 provinces in China. The results reveal a non-linear relationship between digital technologies and energy efficiency in China (represented by an N-curve), which is validated by robustness tests. This indicates digital technology exerts a fast-slow-rapid impact on improving energy efficiency throughout its initial-rapid-stable developmental stages. Geographically, this effect is more pronounced in eastern and central China, as well as in areas with lower energy efficiency. Furthermore, the impact of digital technology on total energy consumption can be characterized by an inverted N-shaped curve. As regional energy efficiency improves, the energy consumption associated with the development of digital technologies gradually decreases. These findings can contribute valuable insights for enhancing energy efficiency and provide practical guidance for the formulation of energy and digital technology policies.

The effect of superstitious beliefs on corporate investment efficiency: evidence from China

This study investigates the effect of CEOs' cultural-specific superstitious beliefs on corporate investment efficiency in China. Using data collected from Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2021, we find that CEOs' beliefs about certain years in the zodiac year limit risk-taking behavior and thus mitigate overinvestment but aggravate underinvestment. Specifically, our findings reveal that superstitious beliefs of the zodiac impact corporate investment efficiency in two directions. For firms already in a state of overinvestment, CEOs' decision not to invest for fear of loss due to their superstitious belief of the zodiac year balances that firm's investment level, yielding a positive effect on corporate investment efficiency. However, in the case of firms that were already in a state of underinvestment, CEOs' risk-avert attitudes due to the same beliefs exacerbate underinvestment. Further, our findings show the effect of such beliefs are stronger in firms with a lower level of marketization, weaker internal control, and less external monitoring. Our findings shed light on the effect of Chinese traditional cultural factors on corporate decision making in emerging economies.

Impact of China’s financial development on the sustainable development goals of the Belt and Road Initiative participating countries

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to strengthen regional economic and policy cooperation and achieve the rapid development among the participating countries. While the impact on the financial development of the economic growth and energy environment of BRI participating countries has garnered close attention among scholars, few studies focus on the impact of financial development on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the BRI participating countries. To address this gap, we utilized panel regression models to quantitatively assess the impact of China’s financial development scale, structure, and efficiency on the SDGs of the BRI participating countries, and adopted Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) model to explore the spatial-temporal effects of China’s financial development scale, structure, and efficiency on the SDGs of the BRI participating countries. Our findings indicate that China’s financial development has significantly promoted the SDGs of the BRI participating countries. This study further reveals that the scale and efficiency of China’s financial development have had a more pronounced impact on the SDGs of Asian countries, low- and middle-income countries, and the Land Silk Road participating countries, compared to those of European countries, high-income countries, and the Maritime Silk Road participating countries, respectively. In contrast, the structure of financial development primarily promotes the SDGs of European and high-income BRI participating countries in the land silk belt. The role of China’s financial development in promoting the SDGs of most BRI participating countries has gradually increased over time. This study provides valuable insights for decision-makers in China to facilitate the sustainable development of BRI participating countries and foster a shared community within the BRI framework.

Examining the impact of urban management on regional innovation efficiency in China’s manufacturing industry with a focus on modern sustainable energy: utilizing a non-radial distance function method

This study examines the impact of urban management on the efficiency of regional innovation in China’s manufacturing industry, with a specific focus on modern sustainable energy. The research takes into consideration the regional diversity in innovation development across China’s three major regions and integrates common Frontier theory with the MSBM model. By employing a non-radial distance function approach, this study develops the MMSBMP model, incorporating various improved methods proposed by researchers. The Luenberger index methodology is utilized to assess the innovation efficiency of the national manufacturing industry from 2017 to 2021, enabling the identification of efficiency losses. The findings highlight significant disparities and opportunities for enhancing innovation efficiency across the three major regions, both at the common Frontier and the group Frontier. However, caution is advised due to the potential overestimation of regional Frontier efficiency values resulting from variations in technical reference datasets. Analysis of the Total Growth Rate (TGR) values reveals distinct development characteristics among the regions, with the eastern region exhibiting smaller extremes and the central and western regions displaying larger extremes. This comprehensive examination of China’s manufacturing industry emphasizes the influence of urban management. By investigating the consequences of urban management practices, this research provides insights into the relationship between urban development strategies and the performance, efficiency, and sustainable growth of the manufacturing industry. The study highlights the significance of urban management in shaping regional innovation efficiency and emphasizes the continual improvement of the industry’s innovation performance in the context of modern sustainable energy.

Measuring water-used and production efficiency in China using the super-efficient directional distance function

ABSTRACT This study employs the super-efficiency directional distance function (SDDF) to assess the productivity of each administrative region in China over the period 2013–2017. The focus is on exploring variations in gross domestic production and efficiency related to waste gas and wastewater discharge across regions. The inputs include labor, capitalization, energy usage, and total water consumption, with domestic gross production as the output, and total wastewater and exhaust gas discharges as unintended outputs. The findings highlight Beijing, Tianjin, Hainan, Qinghai, Guangdong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Shandong as the most efficient regions, while Zhejiang, Ningxia, Hunan, and others exhibit lower performance. Notably, Guangxi ranks lowest (0.631). Unlike traditional direct distance function models, the SDDF model provides a more accurate estimation of the production efficiency of all 30 administrative regions, and addresses the limitation of generating the same efficiency values of 1 simultaneously for multiple regions. The study emphasizes the need for inefficient regions to reduce water consumption and emissions and enhance productivity, offering valuable insights for policymakers in formulating environmental and production policies.

Does unfairness reduce efficiency? Within-industry CEO pay inequity and firm efficiency in China

This paper investigates the impact of CEO pay inequity within an industry on firm efficiency. We measure within-industry pay inequity as the difference in compensation between a firm's CEO and the second-highest-paid CEO in the same industry (or in the same size-industry group). Using R&D expenses and capital expenditures as the inputs, we construct data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) scores to evaluate firm efficiency. We find that within-industry CEO pay inequity is negatively associated with firm efficiency. We further show a significantly negative impact of within-industry CEO pay inequity on firm performance (ROA and Tobin's q). Overall, our findings highlight the destructive effect of CEO pay inequity within an industry which dampens executive motivation and leads to reduced firm efficiency, supporting relative deprivation theory and equity theory, the two major theories of perceived distributive injustice.

Cross-efficiency aggregation based on interval conditional entropy: An application to forest carbon sink efficiency

Cross-efficiency evaluation is an extension of data envelopment analysis (DEA), which can effectively distinguish between decision-making units (DMUs) through self- and peer-evaluation. The cross-efficiency of each DMU in a set of DMUs is measured in terms of intervals when the input–output data are represented by the number of intervals. Based on the interval cross-efficiency matrix, the interval entropy is defined in terms of the likelihood. Then, considering the influence of peer evaluation, the interval conditional cross-efficiency entropy is proposed and an aggregation model of the interval conditional cross-efficiency entropy is presented to create a ranking index for DMUs. Finally, a simple example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, which is applied to the evaluation of forest carbon sink efficiency in China. The results indicate that the final cross-efficiencies of all 30 provinces range from 0 to 0.6. Among these provinces, those with a relatively high efficiency include Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Shandong, and Qinghai.

Political governance and corporate investment efficiency in China

ABSTRACT The involvement of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in corporate decision-making has formed a governance model with ‘Chinese characteristics’ that diverges from commonly studied governance models. This paper provides direct insight into China’s political governance model by examining how the Party organization influences the investment efficiency of private firms. We find that increasing the proportion of Party directors (i.e. stronger political governance) improves the investment efficiency of private firms. This finding survives various robustness checks. The mediation analysis suggests that Party organizations promote corporate investment efficiency by playing advisory and supervisory roles in corporate governance. One policy implication is that, from the perspective of improving investment efficiency, the CPC should encourage private firms to invite more Party organization members to the board of directors, supervisory board, or management.

The Efficiency of China’s Hub Economy and Its Influencing Factors: A Two-Stage Analysis Based on the Super SBM-Malmquist-Tobit Model

Hub economy is a kind of emerging economic form. Developing a hub economy is essential to strengthen domestic and foreign connectivity and build a powerful country in transportation. This paper designs a two-stage analysis framework for the evaluation and impact study of the input-output efficiency of the hub economy based on the super SBM model, Malmquist model, and Tobit model. In the first stage, the Super SBM and Malmquist models are used to measure the static and dynamic efficiency of the hub economy. In the second stage, the Tobit model is used to analyze the factors influencing the efficiency of the hub economy. Among them, the explained variable in the second stage is the measurement result of technical efficiency in the first stage. The empirical results of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2012 to 2021 show that (1) the technical efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE), and scale efficiency (SE) of China’s hub economy are 0.585, 0.740, and 0.820, respectively, which do not reach the effective state; (2) the technical efficiency change index (Effch), technical progress change index (Techch), and total factor productivity change index (Tfpch) of China’s hub economy are 0.994, 0.945, and 0.939, respectively, indicating that the corresponding efficiencies show a downward trend; and (3) industrial structure, innovation, and technology are significantly and positively correlated with the efficiency of the hub economy; policy and enterprises are significantly negatively correlated with the efficiency of the hub economy; and education does not correlate with the efficiency of the hub economy.