Drag Effect of Water Consumption on Urbanization—A Case Study of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2000 to 2015

Abstract

Urbanization is an engine of economic development, but this process is often constrained by increasingly scarce water resources. A model predicting the drag effect of water consumption on urbanization would be useful for future planning for sustainable water resource utilization and economic growth. Using panel data from 11 provinces in China’s Yangtze River economic belt (YREB) from 2000 to 2015, we apply Romer’s growth drag theory with spatial econometric models to quantitatively analyze the drag effect of water consumption on urbanization. The results show the following. (1) The drag effect of water consumption on urbanization has significant spatial correlation; the spatial Durbin model is the best model to calculate this spatial connection. (2) The spatial coefficient is 0.39 and the drag that is caused by water consumption on urbanization in the YREB is 0.574, which means that when spatial influences are considered, urbanization speed slows by 0.574% due to water consumption constraints. (3) Each region in the YREB has different water consumption patterns and structure; we further calculate each region’s water consumption drag on urbanization. We find that areas with high urbanization levels, like Shanghai (average 84.7%), have a lower water consumption drag effect (0.227), and they can avoid the “resource curse” of water resource constraints. However, some low-level urbanization provinces, like Anhui (average 39.3%), have a higher water consumption drag effect (1.352). (4) Our results indicate that the water drag effect is even greater than the drag effect of coal and land. Therefore, policies to increase urbanization should carefully consider the way that water constraints may limit growth. Likewise, our spatial model indicates that policy makers should work with neighboring provinces and construct an effective regional water cooperation mechanism.

Study on the coordinated development of urbanization and water resources utilization efficiency in China

“…Wang et al (2018aWang et al ( , 2018b found long-term equilibrium relationships between urbanization and water use. An et al (2018) found that the drag effect of water consumption on urbanization has significant spatial correlation. There are also some new findings about the relationship between urbanization and water resource efficiency.…”

The Drag Effect of Water Resources on China’s Regional Economic Growth: Analysis Based on the Temporal and Spatial Dimensions

“…The economic output is expressed in terms of the gross domestic product (GDP), and the GDP is adjusted at a constant price based on the figures from 1978. [6,30,31,[33][34][35] Labor force The labor force is represented by the data on social workers at the end of the year in each region. [20,30,31,[33][34][35] Water resources…”

“…The fixed capital was calculated using a depreciation rate of 0.06 with the perpetual inventory method, and the fixed capital stock is adjusted at a constant price based on the figures from 1978. [30,31,[33][34][35] The measurement results concerning the virtual water content of major agricultural product units (SWD) in various provinces of China are shown in Tables 2 and 3 (the blank in the table indicates that the crop is not grown in the area).…”

Water Security Assessment of China’s One Belt and One Road Region

“…This results in low water resource utilization efficiency and high environmental pollution. Another reason is the "resource curse" which makes people who live in regions of high water availability less sensitive to water saving schemes [76]. The average annual growth rate of water security for Fujian and Guangdong is relatively high, ranked the first and the eighth respectively.…”