Exploring the Impacts of Urbanization on Eco-Efficiency in China

Xinyue Yuan, Yang Nie (), Liangen Zeng, Chao Lu and Tingzhang Yang
Additional contact information
Xinyue Yuan: School of Insurance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100098, China
Yang Nie: Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Liangen Zeng: College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Chao Lu: Law School, Shandong University of Technology, ZiBo 255000, China
Tingzhang Yang: College of Business and Economics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: It is of significant importance to conduct research on the relationship between urbanization and eco-efficiency ( EE ), for it can aid policy making for urban and regional sustainable development. This paper studied the effects of urbanization on the EE in 30 provinces of China from 2008 to 2019. Using the epsilon-based measure (EBM) model with undesirable outputs, this study measured the EE of China’s provinces before empirically analyzing the effects of urbanization on EE . Conclusions could be drawn: the annual mean EE of the eastern region was the highest (0.837), followed by those of the central region (0.653) and western region (0.570), and that of the northeast region remained the lowest (0.438). Zooming into the provinces and cities, the EE s of Beijing, Shanghai, and Fujian were at the production frontier surface, with a high level of EE during the study period, while those of Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang were generally at a lower level. Empirical analysis showed that the effects of urbanization on EE in China presented a U-shaped relationship, having a negative correlation first and then reversing to a positive one. At present, China is in the early negative stage, and the turning point has yet to come. Considering the control variables, the economic development level, technological progress, and foreign direct investment have positively influenced eco-efficiency. Overall, the paper may shed light on related studies and provide relevant policy suggestions to promote EE through a new urbanization strategy.

Keywords: eco-efficiency; urbanization; influence mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/3/687/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/3/687/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:3:p:687-:d:1098144

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().