Green Total Factor Productivity Research Articles

Does local government debt pressure hamper green transition? Evidence from China

The accumulated local government debt will change government fiscal behavior, which will further impact regional environment performance to a certain extent. However, the literature on how local government debt pressure (LGDP) affect green transition is scarce. By measuring the green transition by green total factor productivity (GTFP), we analyze the effect of LGDP on GTFP. We find that LGDP significantly reduces the GTFP. The negative effect acts through reducing green innovation and loosing environmental regulation. In addition, the negative impact will be more pronounced in cities with weak governance, development, and environmental protection efforts. Finally, enhancing marketization, lowering GDP growth target, and reducing tax burdens can alleviate the adverse effect of LGDP on GTFP. The conclusions of this study provide theoretical support for appropriate government debt governance and have important practical significance for green sustainable development in developing countries.

The local government fiscal pressure's effect on green total factor productivity: Exploring mechanisms from the perspective of government behavior

The local government fiscal pressure's effect on green total factor productivity: Exploring mechanisms from the perspective of government behavior

Research on the impact and mechanism of digital economy on China’s urban green total factor productivity

Green and sustainable development is unstoppable. The digital economy has driven great changes in production methods and has become a key strength in reshaping global economic structure and achieving sustainable development. Cities are both the mainstay of economic growth and the main source of various environmental pollution problems. Therefore, studying the relationship between urban digital economy and urban green total factor productivity is of great significance. Based on panel data from 252 cities in China 2011–2019, a two-way fixed effects model was used to examine the impact of urban digital economy on urban green total factor productivity. The empirical results indicate that: (1) Urban digital economy has a significant positive impact on urban green total factor productivity. (2) Urban technological-innovation-level and human-capital-structure of play a mediating role in the impact. (3) This impact has regional heterogeneity and resource-based type heterogeneity. The research conclusions are not only valuable supplements to previous research, but also providing reliable instructions for implementing a flexible digital economy policy.

How free trade pilot zones enhance agricultural green total factor productivity? Theory and evidence from China

IntroductionGiven the dual constraints of limited resources and environmental concerns, achieving green development in agriculture helps to enhance national food security, resource security, and ecological security.MethodsUtilizing panel data sourced from 30 provinces within China, spanning the years from 2001 to 2021, this paper employs the super-efficiency Slack-Based Measure (SBM) model and the Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index to measure agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP). It utilizes methods such as the stepwise Differences in Differences (DID), mediation effect models, and moderating effect models to systematically explore the impact of the implementation of Free Trade Pilot Zones (FTPZs) on AGTFP and its mechanisms of action.ResultsThe study finds: (1) Establishing FTPZs significantly boosts AGTFP, indicating a profound positive influence; (2) The promotional effect of FTPZs on AGTFP is stronger in the eastern and central regions, as well as in major grain-producing areas; (3) FTPZs may enhance AGTFP by promoting the effect of agricultural structure upgrading, i.e., a transmission mechanism exists from FTPZs to the agricultural structure upgrading effect to AGTFP; (4) The agricultural scale effect plays a positive moderating role in the impact of FTPZs on AGTFP.DiscussionIt is advisable to optimize agricultural measures related to FTPZs, promote agricultural structural upgrading and scale enhancement, adapt strategies to local conditions to advance green agricultural development, and thereby promote the coordinated development of FTPZs and AGTFP.

Research on Multiple Enhancement Paths of Green Total Factor Productivity--Group analysis based on the TOE framework

This study uses the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method with 30 administrative divisions in China as the case, and carries out research and analysis based on the TOE framework to explore the role paths of five factors, namely, the development of digital finance, the level of green innovation, the construction of the talent system, the government's support capacity, and the social financing environment, on the green total factor productivity, the goal is to identify a range of options to push the economy in the direction of green development. The study found that: a single prerequisite is not necessarily a prerequisite for high green total factor productivity; the five factors that drive green total factor productivity include: technology-financial-driven, technology-talent-driven, technology-resource-driven, technology-environment-driven and technology-government-driven; the development of digital finance at the technology level and the level of green innovation plays a very important role. Hence, when it comes to governance, varying strategies should be implemented in different areas to encourage the advancement of environmentally friendly economic growth.

Digital transformation and corporate green total factor productivity: Based on double/debiased machine learning robustness estimation

With the rapid development of the digital economy, China's digital technology and industry continue to integrate deeply into all areas of society. Digital transformation(DT) has become an important engine and key pedestal for economic and social transformations and upgrades. This paper takes 3525 listed companies from 2013 to 2021 as a sample to measure the green total factor productivity(GTFP) of listed enterprises based on the super-efficiency slacks-based measure with the Global Malmquist-Luenberger Index (SBM-GML) and the super-efficiency epsilon-based measure with the Global Malmquist-Luenberger Index (EBM-GML). It draws on the two existing DT indicators to explore the impact and mechanism of enterprise DT on GTFP. The results show that DT can significantly enhance GTFP, and this conclusion still holds after double/debiased machine learning and other robustness tests; the heterogeneity analysis shows that DT of high-tech enterprises, manufacturing industries and low-financialisation enterprises has a more obvious effect on the enhancement of GTFP; and the four-stage mediated impact mechanism suggests that the effect of DT on GTFP can be achieved by improving internal control ability and technological innovation ability. This paper will provide relevant policy insights on how to better drive enterprise DT and green low-carbon development under the “dual-carbon” goal.

How does regional cooperation affect green total factor productivity?—Evidence from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area in China

As a key regional development strategy, regional cooperation affects the sustainable development of city-regions. This study uses social network analysis, spatial analysis, and negative binomial regression analysis to investigate the impacts of regional cooperation on green total factor productivity (GTFP) in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). The main findings are as follows. First, regional cooperation is growing closer, unfolding a trend of networked and polycentric development patterns in the GBA. Second, the GTFP of most cities exhibits an upward trend, indicating a continuous improvement in green economic development in the GBA. Third, different types of regional cooperation have heterogeneous impacts on GTFP, with economic cooperation being essential for regional GTFP. Overall, this study provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the environmental effects of regional cooperation.

Environmental–economic total factor productivity of vegetable production in China from the life cycle perspective

Enhancing agricultural green total factor productivity (GTFP) is crucial for promoting sustainable economic development. However, the absence of systematic approaches to assess the environmental-economic productivity from a full life cycle perspective hinders sustainable agricultural development and constrains the transition to a green economy. This study introduced an innovative framework of life cycle GTFP (LCGTFP) through interdisciplinary collaboration. This framework integrated regionalized life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), multimedia LCIA-based life cycle costing analysis, and the epsilon-based measure combined with the global Malmquist–Luenberger approach. This integration allows for the inclusion of comprehensive environmental burdens into GTFP analysis. Empirical results from the production of 10 types of vegetables in China reveal a “win–win” trend in vegetable industry from an environmental–economic perspective. The LCGTFP reached a value of 1.036 (CV: 0.021) over the past decade, indicating a 3.6% increase in environmental–economic productivity. However, challenges (e.g., fertilizer overuse and regression on the technical frontier) persist in sustainable vegetable production. This study highlights the necessity of technical dissemination, agricultural education, high-quality crop varieties, and e-commerce. Furthermore, the development of the vegetable industry must incorporate environmental and economic conditions, because environmental–economic misallocation occurs in areas that are recognized as having geoclimatic–locational advantages.

Foreign waste ban and green development of Chinese manufacturing industry: Comprehensive evidence based on provincial data

Since the reform and opening up, imported solid wastes have pushed China's economic growth while also bringing about serious environmental problems. In this context, China has introduced a ban on “foreign waste” for imported solid waste. Based on the provincial panel data from 2010 to 2020, this paper calculates the Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) of the manufacturing industry to measure the level of green development of the manufacturing sector, and evaluates the comprehensive impact of the “foreign waste” ban on the green development of the manufacturing industry by using the continuous Difference-in-Differences method. The study finds that the foreign waste ban greatly promotes the greening of China's manufacturing sector, mechanism analysis shows that foreign waste ban stimulates innovation by innovation effects and increases production cost by cost effects, and the policy effect has heterogeneity as it is more prominent in coastal areas, areas with a lower proportion or a higher level of green development. This result suggests that the promotion of domestic solid waste recycling should be accompanied by further guidance on efficient factor mobility, with different measures based on regional heterogeneity.

Can Agricultural Socialized Services Promote Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity? From the Perspective of Production Factor Allocation

In the context of China’s large country with small farmers, agricultural socialized services are regarded as an important way for small farmers to organically connect with modern agriculture and provide ideas for improving agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP). Based on data from 1066 farmers from the China Land Economy Survey (CLES), this paper takes net carbon sink as the environmental output variable, adopts the Cobb–Douglas production function for stochastic frontier method estimation, and measures the AGTFP based on the stochastic frontier analysis method with an output-oriented distance function. At the same time, through the construction of intermediary effect and regulatory effect models, it empirically analyzes the impact and mechanism of agricultural socialized services on farmers’ AGTFP from the perspective of factor allocation. The study found that agricultural socialized services not only significantly promote AGTFP, but also that the effect of AGTFP improvement is more significant as the degree of participation in agricultural socialized services increases. The main results have passed a series of robustness tests. Further research found that agricultural socialized services promote the improvement of AGTFP through the intermediary role of improving the scale of farmland and the level of agricultural green technology adoption. Off-farm employment of the rural labor force has a positive regulatory effect between agricultural socialized services and AGTFP. Therefore, it is recommended to further play the role of agricultural socialized services in optimizing the allocation of production factors and to motivate agricultural socialized service organizations to provide multiple green production services for farmers through policy support or subsidies, enhance the service capacity of agricultural socialized service organizations, and provide precise services by fully considering the differences in the endowment of production factors among farmers, as well as take multiple measures and make solid and steady progress in promoting the sustainable development of agriculture.

Research on the Measurement of Gold Green Total Factor Productivity in the Yangtze River Economic Belt under the Background of Green Finance

With the continuous growth of the economy, the contradiction between finance and the environment has become increasingly prominent, and green finance has attracted much attention due to its sustainable development function. This study integrates green financial efficiency into green total factor productivity based on the two-stage super efficiency unexpected SBM model, and constructs the financial green total factor productivity of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2013 to 2021. The convergence model is used to verify the convergence of productivity development. The research results indicate that, in terms of time dimension, the efficiency of green finance in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is relatively stable, the level of financial ecological performance first decreases and then increases, and the financial feedback ecological performance remains at a high level for a long time. The overall trend of financial green total factors is increasing, and financial green technology innovation is an important driving factor for the increase; In terms of convergence testing, no significant alpha convergence was found in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the regional differences did not significantly decrease. However, there was overall beta convergence, indicating a "catch-up effect" from low productivity provinces to high productivity provinces.

Green Trade and Cultural Innovation: Examining the Impact on GTFP and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in OECD Countries

This study investigates the impact of green trade exports (GTE) on green total factor productivity (GTFP) and environmental sustainability in OECD countries using panel data from 2003 to 2016. We employ linear regression models, polynomial models, and threshold regression techniques to analyze this relationship. Our findings reveal an inverted N-shaped curve between GTE and GTFP, with two turning points. The threshold regression results indicate that when clean energy is below 8.660%, a 1 unit increase in GTE decreases GTFP by 1.518 units. However, when clean energy exceeds this threshold, a 1 unit increase in GTE increases GTFP by 1.056 units. For R&D, the effect of GTE on GTFP changes from −3.165 to 1.193 as R&D exceeds the threshold of 0.664%. Additionally, we find that GTE has a lagged effect on increasing CO2 emissions, with coefficients of 0.0234 and 0.0278 for 1-year and 2-year lags, respectively. The interaction between clean energy and GTE reduces CO2 emissions by 0.00234 units and PM2.5 by 0.0145 units. These results provide important insights for policymakers in developing countries seeking to participate effectively in the global industrial chain while promoting sustainable development.

Impacts and mechanisms of digital village construction on agricultural green total factor productivity

Green is the foundation of agricultural development. By leveraging modern information technology, digital village construction injects new momentum into the green growth of agriculture. Using balanced panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2022, this paper employs the entropy approach and SBM-GML index to measure the indicators of digital village construction and agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP). The impacts and mechanisms of digital village construction on AGTFP are examined through fixed effect, mediating effect, and threshold models. The findings are as follows: (1) AGTFP in China shows an overall increasing trend from 2011 to 2022, with significant growth in the western region compared to the eastern and central regions. (2) Digital village construction significantly accelerates the improvement of AGTFP, a conclusion supported by robustness tests. (3) Mechanism analysis indicates that digital village construction advances AGTFP by fostering agricultural technology innovation, enhancing agricultural human capital, and improving agricultural productive services. (4) Digital village construction has a more significant impact on major grain-producing areas, economically underdeveloped areas, and northern region compared to other regions. (5) Environmental regulation acts as a threshold effect on the impact of digital village construction on AGTFP. Digital village construction substantially impacts AGTFP when environmental regulation is below the threshold, with the positive effect continuing beyond this point but at a reduced intensity.

Neighbor's profit or Neighbor's beggar? Evidence from China's low carbon cities pilot scheme on green development

China has implemented three sets of low-carbon city pilot policies (LCCP), making it the world's most extensive low-carbon and green development program. Many studies have examined the impact of this policy on green development. However, studies rarely discuss spillover effects. This deficiency can lead to biased policy evaluations. This study employs a quasi-experimental approach to investigate the spillover effects of LCCP on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of neighboring non-pilot cities and identify the underlying mechanisms. Using panel data from 283 cities in China spanning from 2004 to 2020, this study employs the time-varying difference-in-difference method. The empirical evidence suggests that LCCP can significantly enhance the GTFP growth of non-pilot cities located within 100 km, with an average annual increase of approximately 1.43%. Mechanism analysis indicates that increasing technological innovation and learning from the pacesetter play crucial intermediary roles in promoting GTFP improvements in neighboring cities. Furthermore, the spillover effects exhibit noticeable heterogeneity, particularly among cities in the eastern region, middle region, and large cities. These findings provide empirical evidence regarding the spillover effects of China's largest carbon pilot policies, contributing to a comprehensive assessment of policy impacts and offering fresh insights for climate policy tools.

Climate policy uncertainty and urban green total factor productivity: Evidence from China

Climate change has an impact on the environment and the economy, and green total factor productivity (GTFP here after) is a composite proxy contains both the contents of the environmental protection and the economic development. Serving the climate policy uncertainty index of China (CCPU here after) as the key explanatory variable, we employ the panel regression model to explore the influence of CCPU on GTFP of the 277 Chinese prefecture-level cities. The main findings are as follows: First, CCPU has a negative impact on GTFP; Second, the negative impact of CCPU on GTFP varies in different cities according to the population size, location, and environmental regulation level; Third, our empirical results are stable under the robustness tests; Fourth, the further analysis of this paper indicate that the negative impact of CCPU on GTFP mainly comes from the period after 2016. In addition, the negative impact of CCPU is mainly through the channel of the Technical Efficiency. Finally, the sensitivity of the Technical Efficiency to CCPU may vary according to the public environmental concerns and government science expenditures of different cities. The major findings of this paper not only have practical significance for China and its local governments, but also provide useful references for other countries, especially the developing countries.

The impact of the circular economy pilot policy on green total factor productivity: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

The impact of the circular economy pilot policy on green total factor productivity: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Sustainable urbanization and green total factor productivity: evidence from China’s new-type urbanization plan

Sustainable urbanization is significant in developing countries. This paper studies whether Chinese-type sustainable urbanization, that is new-type urbanization, promotes green total factor productivity (GTFP). We find that the new-type urbanization implementation in China, on average, significantly promotes GTFP by 3.2%. The positive effect of new-type urbanization on GTFP is correlated with promoting innovation, especially green innovation, and improving allocation efficiency. We do not find clear evidence for industrial upgrading, including industrial advancement and rationalization. This is because industrial upgrading is a gradual process and cannot be achieved shortly. Instead, we find that pilot cities might screen the entry of new firms and keep polluting firms out comparatively. The heterogeneous results indicate that the promotion effects on GTFP are more salient in regions with strong environmental regulation and adequate factor endowments. We have some practical implications for sustainable development in developing countries.

RESEARCH ON DIGITAL ECONOMY AND GREEN TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH OF CHINA’S INDUSTRY AND SPATIAL EFFECTS

This paper evaluates the impact and role of digital economy on industrial green total factor productivity based on the perspective of China’s industrial green transformation and provides a realistic basis and decision-making reference for industrial green transformation. This paper constructs the industrial green total factor productivity and digital economy development index of 30 provinces from 2013 to 2019, and empirically tests the spatial-temporal evolution relationship between them and the impact of digital economy on industrial green development by using time-fixed effect and spatial Durbin model. The results show that the digital economy and industrial green total factor productivity digital economy are unevenly developed, basically showing a distribution trend of high in the east and low in the west, and the two have a significant positive spatial correlation in the years observed. The results of local spatial autocorrelation analysis show that there is a high clustering of digital economy and total factor productivity in the eastern coastal region and low clustering in the western region. The regional heterogeneity analysis shows that the development of digital economy is beneficial to optimize the distortion of capital and labor allocation and thus improve industrial green total factor productivity, but the indirect effect of digital economy on industrial green total factor productivity is not significant and the direct effect plays a dominant role.

Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Green Total Factor Productivity: New Evidence from Yangtze River Delta in China

China has entered a period of high-quality development. As an important feature of high-quality development, green total factor productivity (GTFP) has attracted much attention. With the opening-up and economic globalization, the Yangtze River Delta, one of the strongest and most technological regions in China, has been attracting an increasing amount of foreign direct investment (FDI). This study investigates if FDI is conducive to GTFP under the constraints of specific resources and a specific environment, which has important practical significance for the utilization of FDI in the Yangtze River Delta and China. Through a literature review and sorting the current FDI in the Yangtze River Delta, the GTFP and its decomposition indicators of 27 cities from 2004 to 2019 are calculated based on their energy consumption and pollution. Using the fixed-effects model and threshold model of panel data, this study tests whether FDI promotes GTFP and whether a nonlinear impact of FDI on GTFP exists. It finds that (1) the GTFP of most cities in the Yangtze River Delta improved during the sample period, but their annual growth declined. Technology is the dominant factor affecting the growth of GTFP. (2) FDI in the Yangtze River Delta has increased, and the investment structure has improved, but the distribution among cities is uneven. (3) The scale and quality of FDI have a positive impact on GTFP, which supports the “Pollution Halo” hypothesis. Economics, education, networks, and trade openness can promote the growth of GTFP, while environmental regulation, government intervention, and industrialization have a negative impact. (4) The quality of FDI, economics, the industrial structure, the environmental regulation, and the internet are each a significant single threshold characteristic for the impact of FDI on GTFP. When one of these factors is lower than a certain threshold, FDI has less impact on GTFP. When one exceeds a certain threshold, FDI’s positive promotion effect on GTFP significantly improves. Based on the analysis, this study offers some suggestions. The government should improve the FDI selection mechanism based on realities, make appropriate environmental regulatory policies, strengthen the construction of networks, and improve the “Internet+” effect on productivity.

Heterogeneous Environmental Regulation, Foreign Direct Investment and Green Total Factor Productivity: An Empirical Study Based on Provincial Panel Data of China

Heterogeneous Environmental Regulation, Foreign Direct Investment and Green Total Factor Productivity: An Empirical Study Based on Provincial Panel Data of China