Resource-based Cities In China Research Articles

Investigating the carbon curse of natural resource dependence: A carbon trading scheme

Fossil-based natural resources are carbon-intensive, and over-reliance on them often leads to persistent high carbon emissions at national or regional levels, resulting in the carbon curse. Based on the panel data of 114 resource-based cities in China from 2007 to 2020, this paper examines the carbon curse and solutions for these cities from the perspectives of total and intensity of carbon emissions. The results show that: Firstly, due to the different stages of urban development, resource endowment, degree of resource dependence, and policy background, there is a heterogeneity of carbon curse in China's resource-based cities. Secondly, the carbon emission trading policy can effectively mitigate the carbon curse in China's resource-based cities, and the robustness tests demonstrate the validity of this finding. Thirdly, under the carbon emission trading policy, industrial structure upgrading and digital transformation can play a secondary moderating role in resolving the carbon curse in resource-based cities, further strengthening the inhibitory effect of the carbon emission trading scheme on the carbon curse. In contrast, green technology innovation exhibits no enhancement in the impact of the policy. These findings contribute to the existing research on the carbon curse, offering valuable insights and policy implications for effectively addressing this challenge.

Study on the Characteristic Path of Transformation and Development of Resource-Based Cities in China

Study on the Characteristic Path of Transformation and Development of Resource-Based Cities in China

Determinants and their spatial heterogeneity of carbon emissions in resource-based cities, China

Global climate change associated with increased carbon emissions has become a global concern. Resource-based cities, by estimations, have emerged as major contributors to carbon emissions, accounting for approximately one-third of the national total. This underscores their pivotal role in the pursuit of carbon neutrality goals. Despite this, resource-based cities have long been neglected in current climate change mitigation policy discussions. Accordingly, using exploratory spatial data analysis and Geographical Weighted Regression method, this study investigates the determinants of carbon emissions and their spatial pattern in 113 resource-based cities in China. It can be concluded that: (1) The proportion of carbon emissions from resource-based cities in the national total has shown a marginal increase between 2003 and 2017, and the emissions from these cities have not yet reached their peak. (2) A relatively stable spatial pattern of “northeast high, southwest low” characterizes carbon emissions in resource-based cities, displaying significant spatial autocorrelation. (3) Population size, economic development level, carbon abatement technology, and the proportion of resource-based industries all contribute to the increase in carbon emissions in these cities, with carbon abatement technology playing a predominant role. (4) There is a spatial variation in the strength of the effects of the various influences.

Urban green land use efficiency of resource-based cities in China: Multidimensional measurements, spatial-temporal changes, and driving factors

The green use of urban land has become a key for the sustainable transformation of resource-based cities. This paper selects 116 Chinese resource-based cities to construct an evaluation system for urban green land use and measure its efficiency. Secondly, it identifies driving factors affecting urban green land use efficiency (UGLUE) and comprehensively analyze the heterogeneity of these factors. The important findings of this paper include: (1) The UGLUE of resource-based cities in China has experienced a trend of first fluctuating and then improving. However, there are obvious regional differences. The UGLUE in the eastern and western regions are higher than those in the central and northeastern regions. (2) Industrial upgrading, financial development and technological innovation are key factors affecting UGLUE in resource-based cities. (3) There is significant heterogeneity in the impact of different factors in different city types, different regions and different time periods. The land use in resource-based cities should transform from blind expansion in pursuit of short-term economic benefits to a green development that pursues the coordination of economic, social, and ecological benefits based on the local conditions.

The impact of the digital economy on industrial structure upgrading in resource-based cities: Evidence from China.

The digital economy provides a new path to promote industrial structure upgrading. Using panel data from 2011 to 2020 for 85 resource-based cities in China, this paper empirically investigates the impact of the digital economy on industrial structure upgrading and the primary mechanism. The results show that the digital economy is conducive to promoting industrial structure upgrading in resource-based cities, and innovation is the primary mechanism of action. According to the different stages of resource development, we classify resource-based cities into growth, maturity, decline, and regeneration cities, and we further analyze the heterogeneous influence. In terms of influence degree, the digital economy has a more prominent role in promoting industrial structure upgrading in resource-exhausted cities. In addition, we also found that the closer to the provincial capital city, the more pronounced the promotion of the digital economy to the industrial structure upgrading.

The dilemma of land green use efficiency in resource-based cities: a perspective based on digital transformation

Introduction: Improving land use efficiency is a necessary way to promote sustainable urban development. The objective of this study is to examine the issue of land green use efficiency (LGUE) in resource-based cities and analyze the impact of digital transformation on LGUE. The research utilizes data from 113 resource-based cities in China spanning from 2008 to 2020.Methodology: Firstly, using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to measure LGUE in China cities, this paper investigates the spatial and temporal evolution of LGUE in different cities. Then, this paper explores the impact of digital transformation on the LGUE of resource-based cities based on the broadband China policy using the DID method.Findings: According to the data measured by the SFA, it is found that resource-based cities are 20.4% lower than non-resource-based cities. An in-depth study found that digital transformation significantly improves LGUE, and the effect is greater in resource-based cities, which is a powerful tool to solve the difficulty of LGUE in resource-based cities. Specifically, digital transformation helps to improve the LGUE of resource-based cities enhance by technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading, and alleviating land factor mismatch.Discussion: It is not only necessary to guide and encourage the in-depth integration of traditional industries with digital technology to enhance the digital transformation of resource-based cities, but also to continuously optimize the allocation of land resources between regions and narrow the gap in LGUE between cities.

Industrial structure upgrading, government's attention to ecological environment and the efficiency of green innovation: Evidence from 115 resource-based cities in China

Industrial structure upgrading, government's attention to ecological environment and the efficiency of green innovation: Evidence from 115 resource-based cities in China

Research on the Path to Enhancing Sustainable Fiscal Self-Sufficiency for Resource-Based Cities in China

Research on the Path to Enhancing Sustainable Fiscal Self-Sufficiency for Resource-Based Cities in China

What is the degree of high-quality development of oil–gas resource-based cities in China: based on a new total factor productivity measurement method

What is the degree of high-quality development of oil–gas resource-based cities in China: based on a new total factor productivity measurement method

How economic transformation influence the employment of resource-based cities: Evidence from Shanxi Province, China

Shanxi Province is one of the regions with the highest concentration of resource-based cities in China. For a long time, its economic development relied on coal mining. To implement the low-carbon development strategy, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) established Shanxi Province as a Comprehensive Supporting Reform Pilot Zone for Resource-based Economy (CSRPZRE). This study aimed to make cost-benefit analyses of the CSRPZRE policy. We collected data of 284 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2017. DID models were utilized to estimate treatment effects of the CSRPZRE policy on CO2 emissions and employment. We further investigated mechanisms and heterogeneity of the CSRPZRE policy's impacts on employment. The study found that: (1) Due to the policy shock, both CO2 emissions and employment in Shanxi Province decreased by about 10%. (2) Industrial structure adjustment and foreign direct investment (FDI) utilization partially transmitted impacts of the CSRPZRE policy on employment. (3) Local governments' fiscal independence moderated treatment effects of the CSRPZRE policy on employment. (4) We confirmed that CSRPZRE policy reallocated workers from secondary and tertiary sectors to primary sectors. Finally, this paper summarized 3 experiences learned from the CSRPZRE policy pilot.

Will economic development come at the cost of environmental pollution under fiscal pressure? evidence from resource-based cities in China.

The traditional view is that local governments are inclined to ease environmental regulations in response to fiscal pressure (FP) and alleviate FP by sacrificing the environment for economic development (ED). This paper takes Chinese Mainland resource-based cities (RBC) as the research sample but draws different conclusions. The research results are as follows: firstly, for RBC, although FP reduces environmental pollution (EP), it is not conducive to ED. Compared with non-resource-based cities (NRBC), the economic negative effect of FP in RBC is more obvious. Secondly, FP is detrimental to ED by reducing EP, and RBC have not sacrificed the environment to promote ED in the context of FP. This paper summarizes that the development path of RBC should be "optimizing government behavior → increasing FP → improving environmental quality → reducing ED level." Thirdly, the impact of FP on cities with slower economic growth and smaller economic gap is greater, and the impact of FP on cities with better environment is more obvious. This paper argues that facing FP, RBC in China will not trade EP for ED; at the same time, we suggest RBC in other countries in the face of the FP, not only thinking of promoting ED at the expense of the EP and ease the FP, but also the development of green ecological requirement, overall consideration of the relationship between EP and ED, and then achieve green and sustainable ED without degrading the environment as far as possible.

Will resource tax reform raise green total factor productivity levels in cities? Evidence from 114 resource-based cities in China

One of the new development concept is to enhance Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP). Based on examining the theoretical basis of how resource tax reform affects GTFP, a natural experiment was used to empirically assess how the reform of resource taxes affects the GTFP. Our findings reveal a significant increase in GTFP following resource tax reform. The main contribution of this article lies in constructing a multi-time point difference-in-differences model, which enables clarification of the impact of resource tax reform on GTFP from the perspective of various resource taxes. Then we deduce that resource tax reform enhance GTFP levels by encouraging the transformation of resource-based cities into modern industrialized cities and reducing dependence on resource sectors. However, it is worth noting that resource tax reform may slow down economic growth and investment in scientific and technological innovation in cities heavily reliant on natural resources. In addition, resource tax reform promotes technological advancement through industrial upgrading, albeit with an adverse effect on technical efficiency. This observation implies that resource tax reform should be harmonized with all aspects of urban development. This research offers valuable policy insights on how to develop scientific and reasonable resource tax policies to improve economic development and environmental protection in an environmentally responsible manner.

City Health Examination Evaluation and Subjective Well-Being in Resource-Based Cities in China

City Health Examination Evaluation and Subjective Well-Being in Resource-Based Cities in China

Coordinated effect of green expansion and carbon reduction: Evidence from sustainable development of resource-based cities in China

Resource-based cities generally face the dual pressures of ecological damage and high carbon emissions. Taking the National Sustainable Development Plan for Resource-Based Cities (NSDP) issued in China as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper for the first time, uses the difference-in-difference method to test the coordinated effect of green expansion and carbon reduction brought by NSDP at the county level using rich remote sensing data. The results show that NSDP has significantly promoted the ecological quality improvement and CO2 emission mitigation in resource-based cities, and the above coordinated benefits mainly occur in energy, mature, declining, northeastern, and municipal resource-based cities. Through the mechanism analysis, we find that NSDP mainly works by promoting the transformation of industry sector to agriculture, animal husbandry, accommodation and catering, finance, and environment management sectors, which are reflected in output, employment, product yield, land type and land transaction area. Further discussion on the tertiary industry suggests that developing tourism, easing financing constraint and strengthening environment regulation, are the key channels to borne fruit in green expansion and carbon reduction.

Design and Optimization of a Coal Substitution Path Based on Cost–Benefit Analysis: Evidence from Coal Resource-Based Cities in China

Coal burning is a major contributor to air pollution. Selecting the optimal coal alternative path with economic feasibility and maximum environmental benefits is an important policy choice to mitigate air pollution. It could provide a basis for the design of energy transition policies and the green development of coal resource-based cities. This study designed a coal substitution policy based on the multi-objective optimization model, explored the optimal coal substitution path in coal resource-based cities with the goal of minimizing the costs and maximizing the benefits of coal substitution, and assessed the maximum emission reduction potential of air pollutants. The results show that: (1) by 2025, coal consumption in the study area must be reduced to 85%. The optimal coal substitution path is 90.00% coal-to-electricity and 10.00% coal-to-gas for civil emission sources and 83.94% coal-to-electricity and 16.06% coal-to-gas for industrial boiler emission sources. (2) by 2030, coal consumption must be reduced to 75%. The optimal coal substitution path is 90.00% coal-to-electricity and 10.00% coal-to-gas for civil sources and 78.80% coal-to-electricity and 21.20% coal-to-gas for industrial boiler sources. (3) by implementing the coal substitution policy, emissions of six key air pollutants such as SO2, NOX, CO, VOCs, PM10, and PM2.5 could decrease significantly.

Policy effects and mechanisms of ecological civilization demonstration area on carbon efficiency in resource-based cities

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the construction of ecological civilization demonstration areas (CECDA) on the carbon efficiency (CE) of resource-based cities (RCs) and to understand its mechanism. The CE indicator of 114 prefecture-level RCs in China was measured from 2004 to 2018 using the Slack Based Measure (SBM) model. We found that the index showed an overall fluctuating upward trend followed by a fallback phenomenon. Spatially, it exhibits an east-high and west-low distribution pattern. In an empirical study using a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model and balanced panel data, we found that CECDA significantly contributes to CE. Resource industry dependence is an important transmission factor of CECDA affecting CE, and the rationalization of the industrial structure level and advanced human capital level are important regulating factors. Simultaneously, compared with the central and northeastern regions, the impact of CECDA on CE is more evident in the eastern and western regions.

The impact of sustainable development planning in resource-based cities on corporate ESG–Evidence from China

This study explores the impact of sustainable development in resource-based cities on corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG). The study analyzes data from Chinese A-share listed companies between 2010 and 2021, with the National Plan for Sustainable Development of Resource-based Cities, 2013–2020 (NPSDRBC) as a quasi-natural experiment. The results indicate that the implementation of NPSDRBC encourages companies to fulfill their ESG responsibilities, especially when they possess abundant redundant resources and are able to make more efficient resource allocation. The robustness of the results is validated through a series of rigorous tests. Furthermore, the positive impact of NPSDRBC on corporate ESG is significantly stronger in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs), in central region and in heavy polluting industries. In short, this study comprehensively describes the effects of NPSDRBC, identifies key factors that facilitate ESG, and provides a novel perspective for achieving sustainable development for resource-based cities in China.

Analysis of Ecological Efficiency, Ecological Innovation, Residents’ Well-Being and Their Improvement Paths in Chinese Resource-Based Cities—Based on the Approaches of Two-Stage Super-SBM and fsQCA

Over the past decades, resource-based cities have played a significant role in the development of countries worldwide. China, as a representative developing country, has seen the vital role played by resource-based cities in its development progress. However, heavy reliance on resources in these cities leads to environmental issues. The challenge lies in achieving ecological innovation and enhancing residents’ well-being within resource and environmental constraints for sustainable regional development. This study introduces a two-stage super slacks-based measure (super-SBM) approach to assess the ecological efficiency (EE), ecological innovation (EI), and residents’ well-being (RW) efficiency of 92 sample resource-based cities in China, and presents spatial and grouping comparisons. Then, the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method (fsQCA) is applied to identify paths and development orientations for sustainable development. The results show that resource-based cities in southwest and northwest China exhibit strong performance in EE, EI, and RW, while those in the northeast perform poorly. Growth and maturity resource-based cities demonstrate favorable development in EE and EI, whereas recession and regeneration resource-based cities show unsatisfactory development. The RW efficiency tends to stabilize after the rapid growth of the 92 sample resource-based cities. The fsQCA reveals five paths to achieving high EE, three paths for high EI efficiency, and two paths for high RW efficiency. These paths can be categorized into four development orientations: scale-oriented, economic-oriented, integrated-oriented, and transformation-oriented. These results provide essential references for the development planning and strategic formulation not only in China but also in other similar resource-based cities globally.

Assessment of Socio-Economic Adaptability to Ageing in Resource-Based Cities and Its Obstacle Factor

The resource-based city is a type of city with pronounced ageing problems. Correctly grasping the socio-economic adaptability to ageing in resource-based cities can help actively guide the direction of urban development and build a new socio-economic order for the elderly. This paper first selects 125 resource-based cities in China from 2000 to 2020 for characteristic analysis, and finds that resource-based cities are characterized by fast growth rate and a large proportion of ageing population, deep ageing, large regional differences and uncoordinated ageing development with regional socio-economic development levels. The research objective of this article is to explore the temporal evolution characteristics, spatial patterns, agglomeration characteristics, and factors hindering the socio-economic adaptability to ageing in resource-based cities in China from 2000 to 2020. Therefore, an indicator system for assessing the socio-economic adaptability to ageing was constructed, and the improved entropy-weighted TOPSIS model was used to measure the socio-economic adaptability to ageing in 113 resource-based cities in China from 2000 to 2020. The spatio-temporal variation characteristics of the socio-economic adaptability to ageing in resource-based cities were analyzed by descriptive analysis and Moran’s index, and the main obstacle dimensions and obstacle indicators were clarified by the obstacle factor model. The findings can be summarized as follows: Temporal Analysis: Over the timeframe assessed, the socio-economic adaptability of ageing in resource cities demonstrates a consistent year-on-year improvement. The spatial clustering pattern exhibits a noteworthy trend of “significant-significant-insignificant”. Spatial Pattern: Examining the spatial arrangement from 2000 to 2020, areas with medium-low and low adaptability are prominently concentrated in Eastern China and Northeastern China, while regions with medium-high and high adaptability are focal in Northern China and Eastern China. Hebei Province and its neighboring provinces consistently display H-H clustering, contrasting with the Southwestern regions that persistently exhibit L-L clustering. Obstacle Degree Analysis: Across the 2000 to 2020 period, dimensions related to economic development, social participation, and social security consistently emerge as the primary obstacles. Notably, the top 12 average annual obstacle indicators are selected, and within economic development dimension all 4 indicators predominate as the key obstacles. Within the social participation dimension, tertiary sector value added and total retail sales of consumer goods per capita feature as primary obstacles. Regarding social security, impediments are primarily associated with the ratio of Medicare coverage, the ratio of pension coverage, alongside the development level of the social security sector. In the domain of service provision, key obstacle indicators include park area per capita, number of books in public libraries per 100 inhabitants, and public trams and buses per 10,000 inhabitants.

Resource curse on innovation: A perspective on local mining industry monopolies in resource-based cities in China

This study investigates the effects of monopolies in the local mining industry on the innovation activities of non-mining enterprises in Chinese resource-rich cities. Using data from the Annual Survey of Industrial Firms and firm-level patent data in China from 1999 to 2007, we find that the high monopoly degree of local mining industry is related to the significant decline of innovation activities of non-mining enterprises in the resource-rich cities. Moreover, the negative effects are larger in cities with larger mining industry, greater fiscal pressure, closer collusion between government and enterprises, officials with lower education levels and older age, as well as lower degree of marketization. In addition, the monopoly degree of local non-state-owned enterprises has a larger inhibitory effect on cross-industry innovation than state-owned enterprises. Furthermore, monopoly in the local mining industry has no significant effects on innovation behavior of mining enterprises, but it significantly increases the effective tax rate, reduces government subsidies for non-mining enterprises; and industries with stronger input-output relationships to the mining industry are more significantly affected, confirming the key role of local governments as “middlemen” in the innovation behavior of local enterprises across industry.