No abstract

Environmental–economic efficiency assessment is an effective way to evaluate the degree of coordination between an economy and the environment. Previous studies on environmental–economic efficiency have primarily investigated the efficiency of economic production and have often overlooked the efficiency of pollution treatment in overall economic activities. We applied a network data envelopment analysis model to evaluate the environmental–economic efficiency of a multistage process with undesirable outputs in 30 Chinese provinces during 2001–2017. The multistage process consisted of two sequential stages: economic production and pollution treatment. The results show that the average environmental–economic efficiency across all provinces was generally low but demonstrated a gradual upward trend during the study period. The spatial pattern for the 30 provinces showed that provinces with medium or high environmental–economic efficiency are mainly located in the eastern regions in China. Finally, few provinces exhibited economic activities with high economic production and pollution treatment efficiency, with most provinces generally having low economic production and pollution treatment efficiency. Hence, provinces with different economic production and pollution treatment efficiency modes should implement targeted improvement strategies according to their characteristics.

Industrial agglomeration is one of the primary driving factors in city creation, and the improvement of urban land green use efficiency (ULGUE) is an important part in green development. This study concentrates on the impact of industrial agglomeration on ULGUE in the process of urbanization. Based on the panel data of 283 cities in China from 2003 to 2019, this paper constructs a super efficiency SBM-DEA model including unexpected outputs to evaluate ULGUE. Using a spatial Durbin model, we examine the spatial spillover effects of manufacturing and productive services agglomeration on ULGUE. The results show the following: (1) There has been fluctuation over the study period, which can be classified into three stages, and ULGUE in China as a whole is on the rise. (2) Chinese ULGUE has increased greatly in the western and northeastern regions, changed massively in the eastern region, and stayed largely steady in the middle region. The degree of manufacturing agglomeration is further improved, exhibiting a feature resembling a ladder, with high concentrations in the southeast coastal region and low concentrations in the interior. Production service industry agglomeration intensity has declined, revealing a more dispersed spatial pattern. (3) The rise in local ULGUE will have a beneficial impact on the ULGUE of spatially correlated regions, according to ULGUE’s relatively strong spillover effect. (4) Manufacturing agglomerations can enhance the ULGUE in the neighborhood, but it is not obvious how this will impact the local regions. The agglomeration of production service industry can enhance the improvement of ULGUE in local and spatially correlated regions, but the direct effect is weak. (5) The integration of the manufacturing and productive service industry does not quite strengthen its stimulatory effects on the growth of ULGUE.

No abstract

No abstract

Achieving common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism and promoting regional coordinated development (RCD) is an important path to achieving common prosperity. This study uses data from Zhejiang Province from 2011 to 2020, a demonstration zone of common prosperity, to construct an evaluation model of RCD, assess the regional development level and coordinated development degree, and then analyze the regional differences and spatial correlation pattern of RCD. The following results were obtained: (1) The economic, social, and ecological subsystems of all cities or counties show a continuous or fluctuating rise, and the regional coordinated development level of each study unit also shows a rising trend. This shows that steady regional development is the fundamental material basis for common prosperity. (2) The level of economic and social development shows a pattern of high in the north and low in the south, while the level of ecological development shows a pattern of high in the south and low in the north. The level of RCD evolves from a very uneven spatial distribution to a good level of coordinated development in most cities. It shows that the equalization of development among regions is a realistic manifestation of common prosperity. (3) The level of RCD in Zhejiang Province has greater intra-regional than inter-regional differences, and the differences in RCD in the north are greater than those in the south. The differences between regions have been narrowing. It shows a significant positive spatial correlation, with high-value regions tending to be adjacent to high-value regions and low-value regions tending to be adjacent to low-value regions. In sum, the development of Zhejiang Province in the last decade provides evidence of its role as a demonstration zone for common prosperity. It confirms that coordinated regional development is the fundamental way to achieve common prosperity.

No abstract

No abstract