Environmental catching-up, eco-innovation, and technological leadership in China's pilot ecological civilization zones

Yanni Yu, Wenjie Wu, Tao Zhang, Yanchu Liu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this study we propose a global metafrontier Luenberger productivity indicator (GMLPI) to investigate the effect of the establishment of the Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone (PLEEZ), one of China's typical ecological civilization zones, on regional environmental total-factor productivity growth. We combine the global environmental technology, metafrontier approach, and the non-radial Luenberger productivity indicator and incorporate the regional heterogeneities into the environmental productivity growth analysis. This GMLPI includes the efficiency change, technological change, and metafrontier technology gap change indices. An empirical study of the PLEEZ has been conducted using the county level data covering a period from 2009 to 2013. Empirical results show that the environmental productivity growth has increased by 8.71% on average, with growth primarily driven by technological change. These results suggest that the establishment of the PLEEZ is effective in encouraging eco-innovation; however the PLEEZ lacks an eco-leadership effect. Significant heterogeneities in environmental productivity growth and its patterns among three major functional zones in the PLEEZ remain.
Original languageEnglish
JournalTechnological Forecasting and Social Change
Early online date25 May 2016
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 25 May 2016

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