IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i24p13139-d701182.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Influence of Different Industrial Agglomeration Modes on Eco-Efficiency in China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaohu Li

    (School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China)

  • Xigang Zhu

    (School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China)

  • Jianshu Li

    (School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China)

  • Chao Gu

    (School of Business, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China)

Abstract

It is a key issue for the Chinese government to improve eco-efficiency and realize green development. As a spatial organization mode of industrial labor division, industrial agglomeration has a complex impact on eco-efficiency. However, it is still debatable which industrial agglomeration modes have a positive impact on eco-efficiency. This paper employs a panel threshold model, enterprise micro-level data, and relevant economic environment data from 283 cities in China from 2004 to 2012. It tests the nonlinear effects of specialized, related diversified, and unrelated diversified agglomeration on industrial eco-efficiency. The results show that the impact of specialized and related diversified agglomeration on industrial eco-efficiency is first inhibited and then promoted. The unrelated diversified agglomeration has a significantly negative impact on industrial eco-efficiency, but the negative impact weakens when agglomeration reaches a certain level. Furthermore, the impact of the three agglomeration modes on industrial eco-efficiency depends on city size. The impact of specialized agglomeration on industrial eco-efficiency is insignificant in small- and some medium-sized cities, but it has a significant inhibitory effect on industrial eco-efficiency when the city surpasses medium size. The role of related diversified agglomeration in promoting industrial eco-efficiency is further enhanced with the growth of city size. The impact of unrelated diversified agglomeration on industrial eco-efficiency gradually changes from negative to positive, but it plays a promoting role only when the city reaches the scale of super-large and mega-cities. Finally, this paper suggests that policymakers should formulate differentiated agglomeration policies according to changes in industrial agglomeration level or city size to improve industrial eco-efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaohu Li & Xigang Zhu & Jianshu Li & Chao Gu, 2021. "Influence of Different Industrial Agglomeration Modes on Eco-Efficiency in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-23, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:13139-:d:701182
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/13139/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/13139/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ciccone, Antonio, 2002. "Agglomeration effects in Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 213-227, February.
    2. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2010. "The greenness of cities: Carbon dioxide emissions and urban development," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 404-418, May.
    3. Aarstad, Jarle & Kvitastein, Olav A. & Jakobsen, Stig-Erik, 2016. "Related and unrelated variety as regional drivers of enterprise productivity and innovation: A multilevel study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 844-856.
    4. Blien, Uwe & Suedekum, Jens & Wolf, Katja, 2006. "Local employment growth in West Germany: A dynamic panel approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 445-458, August.
    5. Cerina, Fabio & Mureddu, Francesco, 2014. "Is agglomeration really good for growth? Global efficiency, interregional equity and uneven growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 9-22.
    6. Brülhart, Marius & Mathys, Nicole A., 2008. "Sectoral agglomeration economies in a panel of European regions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 348-362, July.
    7. Mario Forni & Sergio Paba, 2002. "Spillovers and the growth of local industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 151-171, June.
    8. Tone, Kaoru & Sahoo, Biresh K., 2004. "Degree of scale economies and congestion: A unified DEA approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(3), pages 755-772, November.
    9. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    10. Carolina Castaldi & Koen Frenken & Bart Los, 2015. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Technological Breakthroughs: An analysis of US State-Level Patenting," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 767-781, May.
    11. Karim Badr & Reham Rizk & Chahir Zaki, 2019. "Firm productivity and agglomeration economies: evidence from Egyptian data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(51), pages 5528-5544, November.
    12. Batisse, Cecile, 2002. "Dynamic externalities and local growth: A panel data analysis applied to Chinese provinces," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 231-251.
    13. Giulio Cainelli & Roberto Ganau & Donato Iacobucci, 2016. "Do Geographic Concentration and Vertically Related Variety Foster Firm Productivity? Micro-Evidence from Italy," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 197-217, June.
    14. Fang, Jiayu & Tang, Xue & Xie, Rui & Han, Feng, 2020. "The effect of manufacturing agglomerations on smog pollution," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 92-101.
    15. Hansen, Bruce E., 1999. "Threshold effects in non-dynamic panels: Estimation, testing, and inference," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 345-368, December.
    16. Lin, Hui-Lin & Li, Hsiao-Yun & Yang, Chih-Hai, 2011. "Agglomeration and productivity: Firm-level evidence from China's textile industry," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 313-329, September.
    17. Rizov, Marian & Oskam, Arie & Walsh, Paul, 2012. "Is there a limit to agglomeration? Evidence from productivity of Dutch firms," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 595-606.
    18. Forni, Mario & Paba, Sergio, 2002. "Spillovers and the Growth of Local Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 151-171, June.
    19. Zeng, Dao-Zhi & Zhao, Laixun, 2009. "Pollution havens and industrial agglomeration," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 141-153, September.
    20. Ulrich Wagner & Christopher Timmins, 2009. "Agglomeration Effects in Foreign Direct Investment and the Pollution Haven Hypothesis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 43(2), pages 231-256, June.
    21. Li, Xuehui & Xu, Yangyang & Yao, Xin, 2021. "Effects of industrial agglomeration on haze pollution: A Chinese city-level study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PA).
    22. Zhao, Hongli & Lin, Boqiang, 2019. "Will agglomeration improve the energy efficiency in China’s textile industry: Evidence and policy implications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 326-337.
    23. Jun Liu & Yuhui Zhao & Zhonghua Cheng & Huiming Zhang, 2018. "The Effect of Manufacturing Agglomeration on Haze Pollution in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-15, November.
    24. Koen Frenken & Frank Van Oort & Thijs Verburg, 2007. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Regional Economic Growth," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 685-697.
    25. Puyang Sun & Yan Yuan, 2015. "Industrial Agglomeration and Environmental Degradation: Empirical Evidence in Chinese Cities," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 544-568, October.
    26. de Lucio, Juan J. & Herce, Jose A. & Goicolea, Ana, 2002. "The effects of externalities on productivity growth in Spanish industry," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 241-258, March.
    27. Ron Boschma & Asier Minondo & Mikel Navarro, 2012. "Related variety and regional growth in Spain," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(2), pages 241-256, June.
    28. Tone, Kaoru, 2002. "A slacks-based measure of super-efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 32-41, November.
    29. Akihiro Otsuka & Mika Goto & Toshiyuki Sueyoshi, 2010. "Industrial agglomeration effects in Japan: Productive efficiency, market access, and public fiscal transfer," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(4), pages 819-840, November.
    30. Hu, Cui & Xu, Zhaoyuan & Yashiro, Naomitsu, 2015. "Agglomeration and productivity in China: Firm level evidence," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 50-66.
    31. Jaakko Simonen & Rauli Svento & Artti Juutinen, 2015. "Specialization and diversity as drivers of economic growth: Evidence from High-Tech industries," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(2), pages 229-247, June.
    32. J. Paul Elhorst, 2014. "Matlab Software for Spatial Panels," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 37(3), pages 389-405, July.
    33. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    34. Han, Feng & Xie, Rui & Fang, Jiayu, 2018. "Urban agglomeration economies and industrial energy efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 45-59.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qin, Quande & Yu, Ying & Liu, Yuan & Zhou, Jianqing & Chen, Xiude, 2023. "Industrial agglomeration and energy efficiency: A new perspective from market integration," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    2. Ying Song & Lu Yang & Stavros Sindakis & Sakshi Aggarwal & Charles Chen, 2023. "Analyzing the Role of High-Tech Industrial Agglomeration in Green Transformation and Upgrading of Manufacturing Industry: the Case of China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(4), pages 3847-3877, December.
    3. Luo Muchen & Rosita Hamdan & Rossazana Ab-Rahim, 2022. "Data-Driven Evaluation and Optimization of Agricultural Environmental Efficiency with Carbon Emission Constraints," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, September.
    4. Wanxin He & Jianhua Fu & Youxi Luo, 2023. "A Study of Well-Being-Based Eco-efficiency Based on Super-SBM and Tobit Regression Model: The Case of China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 289-317, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Neng Shen & Yuqing Zhao & Qunwei Wang, 2018. "Diversified Agglomeration, Specialized Agglomeration, and Emission Reduction Effect—A Nonlinear Test Based on Chinese City Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Yuan, Huaxi & Feng, Yidai & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Cen, Yan, 2020. "How does manufacturing agglomeration affect green economic efficiency?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    3. Xu, Chen & Bin, Qiu & Shaoqin, Sun, 2021. "Polycentric spatial structure and energy efficiency: Evidence from China's provincial panel data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    4. Liu, Yazhou & Ren, Tiantian & Liu, Lijun & Ni, Jinlan & Yin, Yingkai, 2023. "Heterogeneous industrial agglomeration, technological innovation and haze pollution," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Huaxi Yuan & Longhui Zou & Xiangyong Luo & Yidai Feng, 2022. "How Does Manufacturing Agglomeration Affect Green Development? A Spatial and Nonlinear Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-23, August.
    6. Wang, Xuliang & Xu, Lulu & Ye, Qin & He, Shi & Liu, Yi, 2022. "How does services agglomeration affect the energy efficiency of the service sector? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    7. Ejdemo, Thomas & Örtqvist, Daniel, 2020. "Related variety as a driver of regional innovation and entrepreneurship: A moderated and mediated model with non-linear effects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(7).
    8. Cheng, Ruiqi & Yuan, Peng & Jiang, Gongxiong, 2023. "Growth, agglomeration externalities, and survival: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing start-ups," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    9. Wu, Rongxin & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "Does industrial agglomeration improve effective energy service: An empirical study of China’s iron and steel industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    10. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci & Stefano Usai, 2013. "Productivity Growth In The Old And New Europe: The Role Of Agglomeration Externalities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 418-442, August.
    11. Valerien O. Pede & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & Henri L. F. de Groot & Gustavo Barboza, 2021. "Technological leadership and sectorial employment growth: A spatial econometric analysis for U.S. counties," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 50(1), February.
    12. Yi Ren & Yuan Tian & Chengqiu Zhang, 2022. "Investigating the mechanisms among industrial agglomeration, environmental pollution and sustainable industrial efficiency: a case study in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(11), pages 12467-12493, November.
    13. Chen, Xu & Xu, Huilin & Zhang, Liang & Cao, Huiping, 2022. "Spatial functional division, infrastructure and carbon emissions: Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    14. S. Stavropoulos & F. G. Oort & M. J. Burger, 2020. "Heterogeneous relatedness and firm productivity," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(2), pages 403-437, October.
    15. Wei Han & Ying Zhang & Jianming Cai & Enpu Ma, 2019. "Does Urban Industrial Agglomeration Lead to the Improvement of Land Use Efficiency in China? An Empirical Study from a Spatial Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-22, February.
    16. Nana Yang & Qiming Liu, 2023. "How does industrial agglomeration affect regional innovation? A spatial econometric analysis," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 826-852, December.
    17. Chen, Xu & Chen, Xueli & Song, Malin, 2021. "Polycentric agglomeration, market integration and green economic efficiency," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 185-197.
    18. Li, Xuehui & Xu, Yangyang & Yao, Xin, 2021. "Effects of industrial agglomeration on haze pollution: A Chinese city-level study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PA).
    19. Ping Lu & Jianhui Liu & Yunxuan Wang & Lei Ruan, 2021. "Can industrial agglomeration improve regional green total factor productivity in China? An empirical analysis based on spatial econometrics," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 1011-1039, June.
    20. Ren Lu & Qing Song & Ting Xia & Daguo Lv & Torger Reve & Ze Jian, 2021. "Unpacking the U‐shaped relationship between related variety and firm sales: Evidence from Japan," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(5), pages 1136-1157, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:13139-:d:701182. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.