Evaluating and enhancing natural resource asset management efficiency in China: A data envelopment analysis study

Shuhong Wang, Lu Xing, Xueli Chen and Malin Song

Resources Policy, 2024, vol. 92, issue C

Abstract: The efficiency of China's natural resource asset management system significantly influences the sustainable utilization of resources and the promotion of an environmentally sustainable economy. In this research, we employ a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to assess and analyze the efficiency and dynamic changes within China's natural resource asset management system. Our analysis is based on panel data collected from 30 provinces spanning the years 2007–2019. Our findings reveal that only three provinces demonstrated DEA effectiveness in managing natural resource assets, highlighting substantial regional disparities in efficiency. The presence of multiple institutions operating independently has led to a situation of overlapping responsibilities, resulting in critical issues related to redundant management. Inadequate resource tax collection intensity and a low tax utilization rate have contributed to the insufficiency in resource tax utilization. Local industrial structures and government priorities have hindered the active involvement of industrial enterprises in natural resource asset management in certain regions. We categorize changes in the efficiency of system operations in non-DEA-effective regions into three types: a temporary increase followed by a continuous decline, a gradual increase with overall low efficiency, and a rapid increase with relatively high overall efficiency. Consequently, this study offers policy recommendations aimed at enhancing the efficiency of natural resource asset management: (1) Clarify the ownership of natural resource assets and establish a well-defined hierarchical proxy system along with an integrated supervision framework. (2) Allocate resource tax revenue reasonably and promote collaborative coordination between resource taxes and other policy measures. (3) Strengthen the government's commitment to natural resource asset management, draw insights from advanced regions' experiences, and tailor policy approaches to the specific conditions of different regions to effectively balance economic development and environmental protection.

Keywords: Natural resource asset management; Static efficiency; Dynamic efficiency; Institution redundancy; Resource tax (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420724003672
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:jrpoli:v:92:y:2024:i:c:s0301420724003672

DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2024.105000

Access Statistics for this article

Resources Policy is currently edited by R. G. Eggert

More articles in Resources Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().