How could we benefit from a low-carbon economy? Evidence from Chinese regional labor markets

Chuanhui Wei, Yongji Zhang, Minghui Lan, Zhi Su, Heran Du and Ke Wang

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2024, vol. 71, issue C, 523-537

Abstract: Existing studies on the employment effects of a low-carbon economy predominantly focus on sectoral dynamics instead of regions, providing limited references for prefectural policymaking. We address this gap by employing a fixed effects model and a dataset of Chinese cities from 2006 to 2020. Our findings highlight the significant contribution of a low-carbon economy to regional employment through the industry agglomeration effect and innovation effect. Heterogeneities are evident in the employment-promoting influence of a low-carbon economy, as cities with lenient environment enforcement, ample education investment, and non-resource-dependent structures benefit more significantly. Notably, a low-carbon economy exhibits a disproportionately higher employment promotion effect in cities with mid-range employment populations. In addition, we identify co-benefits of a low-carbon economy, including higher average salaries and mitigation of aging trends. These insights foster a better understanding of the low-carbon economy and offer valuable guidance for prefectural governments seeking to develop targeted low-carbon economy strategies.

Keywords: Low-carbon economy; Employment; Industry agglomeration; Innovation effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J31 Q52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X24001309
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:streco:v:71:y:2024:i:c:p:523-537

DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2024.09.001

Access Statistics for this article

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics is currently edited by F. Duchin, H. Hagemann, M. Landesmann, R. Scazzieri, A. Steenge and B. Verspagen

More articles in Structural Change and Economic Dynamics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().