Industrial Structure Effect Research Articles

How Does New Energy Demonstration City Policy Promote Urban Land Use Efficiency in China? The Mediating Effect of Industrial Structure

As an effective measure to solve the dilemma of urban energy consumption and economic development, the new energy demonstration city (NEDC) policy in China could greatly promote the development of the new energy industry and urban economy. This study aims to explore how the NEDC policy effectively promotes the growth of urban land use efficiency (ULUE), an essential indicator of economic development, through the urban industrial structure. Based on the panel data of 285 Chinese cities during 2003–2019, this study took the NEDC policy as a quasi-natural experiment and employed the PSM-DID method and the mediating effect model to objectively evaluate its policy effects. We found that the NEDC policy could significantly promote the growth of the ULUE. Specifically, the ULUE has been significantly improved by 17.0%. The NEDC policy could also promote the ULUE indirectly through the mediating effect of industrial structure advancement (ISA), but the mediating effect of industrial structure rationalization (ISR) was not significant. Furthermore, the promotional effect of the NEDC policy on the ULUE has regional heterogeneity. Compared with eastern cities and high-innovation cities, central and western cities and medium-innovation and low-innovation cities can obtain much higher promotion effects. This study may provide some policy inspiration for policymakers to support low-corban and sustainable economic development and urban land use.

Can green credit inhibit regional carbon emissions? evidence from China

During the inhibition path of carbon emissions, the role of green finance is of increasing concerns, among which, green credit is regarded as crucial instrument. However, there exist insufficient empirical explorations on effects of green credit. Therefore, this study introduced intergovernmental panel on climate change method to calculate regional carbon emissions based on eight fossil fuels from 2008 to 2019 in China. Subsequently, spatial measurement, threshold regression, and intermediary model were further applied to examine how green credit may affect carbon emissions regarding the restraining effect, threshold effect, transmission mechanism, and spatial heterogeneity. The results show that: (1) green credit can effectively inhibited China's provincial carbon emissions although there existed regional inconsistency. (2) Appropriate levels of environmental regulation and marketization can enhance the repress effect of green credit. (3) Green credit can suppress provincial carbon emissions through optimizing the energy consumption structure, while there exists no intermediary effect of industrial structure upgrading during impact path. (4) Considering endogeneity, green credit can still significantly inhibit regional carbon emissions. These findings further enrich the current literature and provide references for policy design of constructing efficient carbon neutralization path.

Guangxi's Primary and Non-Primary Cities: Wage Gap, Human Capital Gap and Economic Gap

Based on the panel data of 14 cities in Guangxi(China) from 2004 to 2021, a two-way fixed effect model is established to analyze the effects of wage gap and human capital gap on the economic gap between non-primary and primary cities. The results found that both the wage gap and the human capital gap have a significant positive impact on the economic gap between cities in general; regional heterogeneity tests show that some cities have a significant impact on the economic gap in terms of the wage gap and the human capital gap, while others do not; there is a positive moderating effect of industrial structure upgrading on the relationship between wage gap and economic gap. Based on this, non-primary cities should pay attention to the synergy between economic development and wage income improvement; actively create good development opportunities and enhance the ability to attract talents; improve self-development ability through industrial upgrading and opening up to the outside world.

What causes dynamic change of green technology progress: Convergence analysis based on industrial restructuring and environmental regulation

Using 57 city-level panel data of Yellow River Economic Belt from 2004 to 2018, this paper investigates the effect of industrial restructuring and environmental regulation on dynamic change of green technology progress (GTP) by convergence models. Industrial restructuring is divided into rationalization and advancement industrial structure. Concretely,δconvergence results present that GTP values of different cities do not converge to steady state, but absoluteβconvergence results show that GTP growth rate of different cities will reach to a certain steady-level. In addition, the estimation results verify the existence of GTP conditionalβconvergence. Rationalization industrial structure, advancement industrial structure, and environmental regulation respectively have significantly positive effect on GTP, but the positive effects of rationalization and advancement industrial structure reduce with the increase of environmental regulation. Moreover, fiscal revenue decentralization and fiscal expenditure decentralization are important transmission channels through which industrial restructuring and environmental regulation affect GTP.

How does functional division within urban agglomeration affect CO2 emissions? An empirical study.

With intensified urbanization, cities are becoming increasingly important units for addressing air pollution issues. From the perspective of urban agglomeration (UA), in this paper, the influence of functional division on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is studied. To explore the spillover effect within UA, a spatial Durbin model is built. The mediating effects of economic growth, industrial structure, and technological progress are examined using the parallel multiple mediation model. An empirical study is carried out on the Yangtze River Delta in China. The results suggest that: at the UA level, functional division and CO2 emissions follows a positive "U-shaped" curve relationship. The level of functional division is located on the left side of this curve. This implies that when the functional division of the Yangtze River Delta improves, current CO2 emission levels will decrease. Within the UA, improving the level of functional division will minimize CO2 emissions of adjacent cities, exerting a significant spillover effect. Functional division imposes a significantly negative influence on CO2 emissions. Moreover, economic growth, industrial structure, and technological progress all exert a significant mediating effect on the influencing mechanism. Functional division within the UA can also significantly reduce CO2 by optimizing these three paths.

The impact of fiscal transfer payments on energy conservation and emission reduction in China: Does the development stage matter?

Fiscal transfer payments (TRANS) are the institutional supplement of Chinese-style fiscal decentralization, which is of great significance to economic development. However, the relationship between TRANS and energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER) remains to be further discussed. Using panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2020, this study empirically examines the impact of TRANS on energy-environmental performance (EEP) from the perspectives of influence mechanism, regional heterogeneity and nonlinearity. The results show that the influence of TRANS on ECER presents an obvious U-shaped relationship, and this influence has regional heterogeneity. At the same time, the investment-driven effect, infrastructure effect and industrial structure effect are important channels through which TRANS affect ECER. The partially linear functional coefficient models show that TRANS have different effects in different development stages. With the continuous improvement of economic level and urbanization level, the promotion effect of TRANS on ECER is more and more obvious. These results indicate that the government should increase fiscal investment in ECER, and pay attention to the development stage of different regions.

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on Urban Economic Resilience: An Empirical Study Based on the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations

Urban economic resilience can reflect whether cities can sustain high-quality development. Therefore, based on the panel data of 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations from 2010-2019, this paper measures the city economic resilience index using the entropy method and explores the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the economic resilience of cities in the Yangtze River Delta using the Tobit model. The results show that (1) Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Suzhou have higher urban economic resilience than other cities and are more likely to achieve high-quality economic development (2) FDI has a significant negative impact on urban economic resilience (3) the level of urban innovation development can promote the development of urban economic resilience; urban freight capacity, urban greening level and advanced industrial structure hinder the development of urban economic resilience, but the effects of urban greening level and advanced industrial structure are not significant. Finally, this study makes several suggestions on how to improve the economic resilience of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations.

Exploring the Role of “Double Cycle” and Industrial Structure in High-Quality Economic Development in China

The outbreak of the new crown epidemic has impacted the global industrial chain and caused significant changes in the world economic and political landscape. In the post-epidemic era, promoting high-quality economic development (HQED) has become an important issue. The study selects the spatial econometric model and mediating effect model to verify the role of industrial upgrading in the double cycle for HQED, and concludes as follows: (1) “double cycle” can significantly promote HQED, and there is a significant spatial effect of the double cycle; industrial structure upgrading “ can significantly promote HQED, and there is a significant spatial effect of industrial structure upgrading, which may have a positive impact on the neighboring regions; (2) domestic circulation can promote HQED in the region, but the spatial effect is not significant; international circulation can not only promote HQED in the region, but also promote HQED in neighboring regions . There is a significant positive spatial effect of industrial structure upgrading. (3) The industrial structure upgrading plays a part in the mediating effect of the “double cycle” on the HQED. This study has important implications for the realization of HQED in Chinese regions.

Spatial-temporal characteristics of carbon emission intensity in electricity generation and spatial spillover effects of driving factors across China's provinces

As China's largest source of carbon emissions, the power sector's transition to lower levels of carbon emission intensity is critical to achieving China's carbon emission (CE) reduction commitments. In this paper, the CE intensity of electricity generation (CEIE) in 30 provinces from 2000 to 2019 is calculated, and the temporal evolution and spatial distribution characteristics of CEIE are discussed. Then, the spatial spillover effect of each driving factor on CEIE is calculated using the spatial Durbin model. The CEIE reveals a first increasing and then decreasing trend, and the regional differences gradually decrease. Simultaneously, the CEIE has a significant positive spatial correlation, and the overall spatial distribution pattern is high in the northeast and low in the southwest of the country. Economic development and foreign trade both inhibit CEIE, while electricity consumption, research and development, unit operation level, and power structure all promote CEIE. Each driving factor's influence on regional CEIE exerts a spatial spillover effect. Among them, the spatial positive spillover effects of industrial structure and environmental protection investment are the most obvious, while the spatial spillover effects of other driving factors are not apparent. Furthermore, these findings provide practical insights into policy adjustments and the coordinated interregional development of low-carbon electricity.

Driving Factors of Industrial Water Use Change Based on Carbon Emission and Sectoral Perspectives in Hebei Province, China

Hebei Province in China is facing a serious water shortage, which is further aggravated by the pressure of industrial transfer and the unreasonable structure of industrial water use. To explore the relationship between industrial water use and carbon emissions, in this study, a refined logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) decomposition method was developed to analyze the driving factors of industrial water use in Hebei Province during 2008–2019 from carbon emission and sectoral perspectives. The results show that the carbon emission effect, the water–carbon effect, and the industrial structure effect were the main factors contributing to the decrease in industrial water use during the study period. The carbon emission effect made a great contribution to its decline. The cumulative contributions of these factors were −1425, −533, and −763 million m3 from 2008 to 2019. The contribution of the industrial structure effect was −106.93%, with a large potential for water saving. According to the sectoral analysis, the 32 sectors in Hebei Province exhibited significant sectoral heterogeneity, and the strong promoting industries were identified as the main sectors contributing to the increase in the promotion of industrial water use. This paper provides a reference for the scientific formulation of water-saving and emission-reduction policies and research on the water–carbon relationship in Hebei Province.

High-speed rail and city's carbon productivity in China: a spatial difference-in-differences approach.

Improving carbon productivity is an important measure to promote low-carbon development. Since high-speed rail (HSR) has both economic and environmental effects, it is particularly important to clarify the relationship between HSR development and carbon productivity. In this paper, 285 cities in China from 2007 to 2017 are used as a research sample, and the relationship between the opening of HSR and the city's carbon productivity is studied using the spatial difference-in-difference method (SDID). The result shows that due to the intermediary effect of technological innovation and industrial structure, the opening of HSR significantly increases urban carbon productivity. At the same time, this influence has a significant positive spatial spillover effect. On average, when a city opens HSR, the local carbon productivity increases by 5.18%, and the carbon productivity of its neighboring cities increases by 13.52%. Overall, the positive effect of HSR on carbon productivity is more pronounced in the middle and western regions. However, the spatial spillover effect in the eastern region is significantly negative. These findings help to accurately assess the social benefits of HSR network expansion and provide important decision-making references for climate governance in the HSR era.

Effects of official and unofficial environmental regulations on environmental quality: Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Due to the increasing impact of climate change, there is a need to examine the effect of environmental regulation on environmental quality. Consequently, we examine the nonlinear and mediation effects of environmental regulation on environmental quality using panel data of 45 major cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China, from 2013 to 2020. Environmental regulation is divided into official and unofficial environmental regulations according to its formality. The results indicate that an increase of official and unofficial environmental regulations can promote the improvement of environmental quality. In fact, the positive effect of environmental regulation on cities with better environmental quality is greater than that of cities with poorer environmental quality. The implementation of both official and unofficial environmental regulations can improve environmental quality better than the single implementation of either official environmental regulation or unofficial environmental regulation. There are full mediation effects of Gross Domestic Product per capita and technological progress in the positive effects of official environmental regulation on environmental quality. There are also partial mediation effects of technological progress and industrial structure in the positive effects of unofficial environmental regulation on environmental quality. This study assesses the policy effectiveness of environmental regulation and determines the underlying mechanism between environmental regulation and environmental quality to provide a reference for other countries regarding environmental improvement.

Effect of income, industry structure and environmental regulation on the ecological impacts of mining: An analysis for Guangxi Province in China

Mineral resource extraction is often accompanied by severe environmental pollution and ecological damage, hindering mining economies from achieving sustainable development. This paper aims to promote the goal of cleaner production in extractive industries from the perspective of environmental management through a more accurate understanding of how human activities affect the extractive industries. This requires more granular data for environmental damage in mining. The article proposes an ecological threat assessment framework for mining to support sustainable processes in the extractive industry. It integrates biophysical variables, technical indicators, and human activity data. The study is based on data at the mine level with 17 indicators used to evaluate the ecological impact of 13960 mines in Guangxi, China, from 2008-to 2018 in four dimensions: economic and technical indicators of mines themselves, surrounding economic activity, geological and environmental vulnerability, and ecological status of mining sites. Data from multiple sources were used to assess, map, and monitor ecological impacts in mining areas, such as high-resolution satellite images, interview data, environmental assessment reports, and mining rights data. We evaluated the ecological impact level of each mine and the extent to which spatial heterogeneity of regional economic and environmental preferences affected the degree of ecological impact. The results show that growth in population income has changed environmental preferences and driven down environmental disturbances in mines. Reduced dependence of regional economies on the industrial sector has also contributed to environmental improvements. In addition, increasing environmental regulation has limited the ecological impacts of mining, but these environmental regulation impacts are regionally heterogeneous. The effect of laws and rules is lower in cities and regions dependent on mineral resources, where resource extraction companies have more bargaining power. The results of this study will inform environmental management in the mining sector and support sustainable development in the region.

Can intellectual property rights protection reduce air pollution? A quasi-natural experiment from China

China began to implement the National Intellectual Property Rights Demonstration Cities (NIPRDC) policy in 2012 to strengthen intellectual property rights (IPR) system. Few studies have focused on the effects of IPR protection on air pollution. Using a panel data set of 268 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2016, this study is the first to adopt a multi-period difference-in- differences (DID) method to examine the effect and mechanism of the NIPRDC policy on air pollution. The results show that the establishment of NIPRDC can effectively reduce the level of urban air pollution, resulting from the effects of technological innovation and industrial structure. Moreover, the air pollution reduction effect of the NIPRDC policy is found to be more significant in resource-based cities. In addition, panel quantile regression results show that the strength of IPR protection helps to improve air quality in high-polluting areas. These findings provide new evidence for the relationship between IPR protection and air pollution, and also provide policy guidance for developing countries seeking both innovation and environmental protection.

Does the “resource curse” have a spatial spillover effect? Evidence from China

This paper measure the degree of resource curse in China by an improved resource curse index model. To investigate the spatial agglomeration characteristics, influencing factors and spatial spillover effects of resource curse based on the spatial statistical model. The results of the research show that: (1) the resource curse in China is deep but presents a good downwards trend and is being alleviated. There are significant differences in the degree of resource curse between regions and provinces. Most regions and provinces show a declining trend. (2) The spatial agglomeration of China's resource curse is clear. Forming a “resource curse club” with Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia as the core. (3) Environmental regulation, technological innovation, industrial agglomeration, human capital and urbanization level are the main factors that alleviate the resource curse. While foreign direct investment and industrial structure are the main factors that exacerbate resource curse. (4) The spatial spillover effect of the resource curse is very significant, and the resource curse of local provinces will be affected by the resource curse of neighbouring provinces. The spatial spillover effects of industrial structure, human capital, foreign direct investment, and technological innovation are significant.

Does the carbon emissions trading system reduce carbon emissions by promoting two-way FDI in developing countries? Evidence from Chinese listed companies and cities

How developing countries can effectively promote cities’ carbon emission reduction through the carbon emission trading system (ETS) is a topic worthy of attention in the global carbon reduction campaign. Policy changes in China’s ETS provide a unique opportunity to measure whether ETS impacts carbon emissions through two-way FDI. Hence, this paper employs difference-in-differences (DID) method to test the causal impact of ETS pilot policy on emissions through two-way FDI. The specific results are shown below. We find that the ETS pilot policy’s emission reduction policy significantly inhibited pilot cities’ carbon emissions through two-way FDI. The emission reduction effect is evident in cities with higher administrative levels, better location advantages, and a higher degree of nationalization and energy demand. The mechanism test shows that ETS positively impacts urban carbon emission reduction through the scale, industrial structure, and technical effects of two-way FDI. Among them, the positive effects of technical effect and scale effect are relatively large. The conclusion of this study provides policy enlightenment for giving full play to the carbon reduction effect of the ETS policy. At the same time, it provides experience reference for other developing countries to design ETS for carbon emission control in opening to the outside world.

Exploring the effect of industrial structure on urban heat island effect with infrared observations

Infrared technology is being used more and more in human life, from life and health, social development to national defense security. This paper investigates the land surface temperature based on the long-wave infrared remote sensing technology (MODIS). Combined with the STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology) model, we focus on the analysis the impact of industry structure on the climate of the surface urban heat islands (UHI), which is of great importance for the urban environment. Here, we found the impact of industrial structure upgrading on urban heat island is significant and positive. And the positive influence of industrial structure shows a significant spatial and Temporal heterogeneity. Moreover, the results of threshold regression revel that the role of industrial structure upgrading on urban heat island has a significant threshold effect. When the population scale and technology level pass the certain threshold value, the influence of industrial structure optimizing will become larger and smaller, respectively. This work involved the integration of infrared technology, satellite remote sensing, environmental economics, and will promote the contribution of infrared technology to human sustainable development.

Dynamic evolution characteristics and driving factors of tourism ecosystem health in China.

Tourism ecosystem health is key to high-quality tourism development. China is now promoting sustainable development and high-quality transformation and upgrading of regional tourism; thus, the research on tourism ecosystem health is of practical significance. Based on the DPSIR model, an evaluation index system of tourism ecosystem health in China was constructed. Then the entropy weight method, spatial autocorrelation analysis, Markov chain analysis, and quantile regression were used to explore the dynamic evolution characteristics and driving factors of tourism ecosystem health in China from 2011 to 2020. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) The tourism ecosystem health in China showed an M-shaped fluctuation process as a whole, with significant spatial correlation and spatial difference. (2) There was a "path-dependent" and "self-locking" effect on the type transfer of tourism ecosystem health, and the type transfer was mainly between adjacent types in successive transfers, with the probability of downward transfer higher than upward transfer, and the geospatial background played a significant role in its dynamic evolution process. (3) In provinces with low tourism ecosystem health type, the negative effect of technological innovation capacity was more significant, and the influence coefficient of the positive effect of tourism environmental regulation and information technology level was larger, while in provinces with high tourism ecosystem health type, the negative effect of tourism industry agglomeration was more significant, and the influence coefficient of the positive effect of tourism industry structure and tourism land-use scale was larger.

Decomposing the decoupling relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in China's agricultural sector

Sustainable food supply is affected by high energy consumption and negative environmental effects. Regarding the national strategy of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets”, the decoupling between energy consumption and economic growth in China's agriculture has received significant attention. Therefore, this study first presents a descriptive analysis of the energy consumption in China's agricultural sector from 2000 to 2019, before analyzing the decoupling state between energy consumption and agricultural economic growth at the national and provincial levels using the Tapio decoupling index. Finally, the logarithmic mean divisia index method is used to decompose the decoupling driving factors. The study draws the following conclusions: (1) At the national level, the decoupling of agricultural energy consumption from economic growth fluctuates among expansive negative decoupling, expansive coupling, and weak decoupling, before stabilizing in the last state. (2) The decoupling process also differs by geographic region. Strong negative decoupling is found in North and East China, and strong decoupling lasts longer in Southwest and Northwest China. (3) The factors driving decoupling are similar at both the levels. The economic activity effect promotes the decoupling of energy consumption. The industrial structure and energy intensity effects are the two main suppressive factors, whereas the population and energy structure effects have relatively weaker impacts. Therefore, based on the empirical results, this study provides evidence for regional governments to formulate policies on the relationship between the agricultural economy and energy management from the perspective of effect driven policies.

OFDI, Industrial Structure Upgrading and Green Development—Spatial Effect Based on China’s Evidence

Green economic development is a worldwide concern. This paper not only contributes to the advancement of studies pertaining to green development but also offers policy recommendations for China to achieve a green and low-carbon economic transformation from the perspective of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) and industrial structure. A mechanism for the effects of OFDI and industrial structure upgrading on green total factor productivity (GTFP) is proposed in this study. Based on measurement and analysis of the evolution characteristics of GTFP and industrial structure level of 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China from 2004 to 2019, the spatial Durbin model is applied to test their spatial effects. The findings demonstrate that (1) the overall trend of China’s GTFP and industrial structure level is upward, with obvious regional non-equilibrium and spatial dependence; (2) both OFDI and industrial structure upgrading can promote green development independently, with the spatial spillover effect of Industrial structure advancement being more evident; (3) the synergistic effect between OFDI and industrial structure advancement is greater than that between OFDI and industrial structure rationalization, and the spatial spillover effect on regions with comparable economic development is greater than that of surrounding regions; (4) in view of the different levels of openness between regions, the independent and synergistic effects in coastal regions and non-coastal regions are heterogeneous. Therefore, China should optimize OFDI, promote the efficiency of resource allocation, maximize the technology spillover, and strengthen interregional cooperation in order to transform towards a green economy.