IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v125y2023ics0140988323003936.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of innovation pilot on carbon total factor productivity: Quasi-experimental evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhou, Tao
  • Huang, Xuhui
  • Zhang, Ning

Abstract

Since the policy design for carbon emission reduction must consider both the efficiency and the cost of emission reduction, improvement in carbon total factor productivity (CTFP) is widely regarded as an important economic path in reducing carbon emissions. With prefecture-level data in China from 2003 to 2016, this paper explores the role of innovation pilot on the CTFP using China's Innovative City Pilot (ICP) policy as a quasi-experiment. First, we construct a novel CTFP framework, that combines the non-parametric Luenberger productivity indicator with the biennial non-radial directional distance function, to take the slack issues and infeasibility problem into consideration. Next, with the staggered difference-in-differences model, we examine whether innovation can stimulate CTFP improvement. The results show that the ICP policy exerts a significant positive effect on CTFP, increasing cities' CTFP by 0.015 on average. Moreover, we identify five potential channels from both economic analysis and comprehensive factor decomposition: technological and low-carbon innovation, industrial upgrading, energy efficiency, carbon emission intensity, and efficiency change. These positive impacts are heterogeneous across different kinds of cities. Specifically, the effects of innovation are stronger in the eastern and central cities, large cities, and cities with tighter environmental regulations. Meanwhile, the political incentives analysis shows that in cities with higher political incentives, officials perform better in energy intensity reduction and CTFP improvement. This paper explores direct evidence for the innovation's effect on carbon productivity, which provides a novel perspective for improving carbon productivity and the future direction of innovation in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhou, Tao & Huang, Xuhui & Zhang, Ning, 2023. "The effect of innovation pilot on carbon total factor productivity: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:125:y:2023:i:c:s0140988323003936
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2023.106895
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988323003936
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2023.106895?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petra Persson & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2016. "The Limits Of Career Concerns In Federalism: Evidence From China," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 338-374, April.
    2. Neil Lee & Andr�s Rodr�guez-Pose, 2014. "Innovation in Creative Cities: Evidence from British Small Firms," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 494-512, August.
    3. Feldman, Maryann P. & Audretsch, David B., 1999. "Innovation in cities:: Science-based diversity, specialization and localized competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 409-429, February.
    4. Jacobson, Louis S & LaLonde, Robert J & Sullivan, Daniel G, 1993. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 685-709, September.
    5. Zhang, Peng & Deschenes, Olivier & Meng, Kyle & Zhang, Junjie, 2018. "Temperature effects on productivity and factor reallocation: Evidence from a half million chinese manufacturing plants," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-17.
    6. Gao, Kang & Yuan, Yijun, 2022. "Government intervention, spillover effect and urban innovation performance: Empirical evidence from national innovative city pilot policy in China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    7. Fujii, Hidemichi & Managi, Shunsuke & Matousek, Roman, 2014. "Indian bank efficiency and productivity changes with undesirable outputs: A disaggregated approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 41-50.
    8. Ziying Fan & Wei Xiong & Li-An Zhou, 2016. "Information Distortion in Hierarchical Organizations: A Study of China’s Great Famine," Working Papers 2016-8, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    9. Eliana La Ferrara & Alberto Chong & Suzanne Duryea, 2012. "Soap Operas and Fertility: Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 1-31, October.
    10. Cui, Jingbo & Wang, Chunhua & Zhang, Junjie & Zheng, Yang, 2021. "The effectiveness of China’s regional carbon market pilots in reducing firm emissions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113492, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Zhang, Ning & Huang, Xuhui & Liu, Yunxiao, 2021. "The cost of low-carbon transition for China's coal-fired power plants: A quantile frontier approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    12. Pastor, Jesús T. & Asmild, Mette & Lovell, C.A. Knox, 2011. "The biennial Malmquist productivity change index," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 10-15, March.
    13. Chenggang Xu, 2011. "The Fundamental Institutions of China's Reforms and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1076-1151, December.
    14. Chong-en Bai & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng Song, 2020. "Special Deals with Chinese Characteristics," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 341-379.
    15. Jean‐Philippe Boussemart & Walter Briec & Kristiaan Kerstens & Jean‐Christophe Poutineau, 2003. "Luenberger and Malmquist Productivity Indices: Theoretical Comparisons and Empirical Illustration," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 391-405, October.
    16. Meng, Ming & Niu, Dongxiao, 2012. "Three-dimensional decomposition models for carbon productivity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 179-187.
    17. Tan, Xiujie & Choi, Yongrok & Wang, Banban & Huang, Xiaoqi, 2020. "Does China's carbon regulatory policy improve total factor carbon efficiency? A fixed-effect panel stochastic frontier analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    18. Zhonghua Cheng & Xiai Shi, 2018. "Can Industrial Structural Adjustment Improve the Total-Factor Carbon Emission Performance in China?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, October.
    19. Bai, Caiquan & Du, Kerui & Yu, Ying & Feng, Chen, 2019. "Understanding the trend of total factor carbon productivity in the world: Insights from convergence analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 698-708.
    20. Berlemann Michael & Wesselhöft Jan-Erik, 2014. "Estimating Aggregate Capital Stocks Using the Perpetual Inventory Method: A Survey of Previous Implementations and New Empirical Evidence for 103 Countries," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 65(1), pages 1-34, April.
    21. Milan W. Svolik, 2009. "Power Sharing and Leadership Dynamics in Authoritarian Regimes," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(2), pages 477-494, April.
    22. Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Political turnover and economic performance: the incentive role of personnel control in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1743-1762, September.
    23. Guojun He & Shaoda Wang & Bing Zhang, 2020. "Watering Down Environmental Regulation in China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2135-2185.
    24. Ruixue Jia & Masayuki Kudamatsu & David Seim, 2015. "Political Selection In China: The Complementary Roles Of Connections And Performance," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 631-668, August.
    25. A. Colin Cameron & Douglas L. Miller, 2015. "A Practitioner’s Guide to Cluster-Robust Inference," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 317-372.
    26. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    27. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Han, J.Y., 2010. "Total factor carbon emission performance: A Malmquist index analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 194-201, January.
    28. Fare, Rolf & Shawna Grosskopf & Mary Norris & Zhongyang Zhang, 1994. "Productivity Growth, Technical Progress, and Efficiency Change in Industrialized Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 66-83, March.
    29. Zhang, Ning & Zhou, Peng & Kung, Chih-Chun, 2015. "Total-factor carbon emission performance of the Chinese transportation industry: A bootstrapped non-radial Malmquist index analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 584-593.
    30. Chen, Shuo & Qiao, Xue & Zhu, Zhitao, 2021. "Chasing or cheating? Theory and evidence on China's GDP manipulation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 657-671.
    31. Zhang, Ning & Choi, Yongrok, 2013. "Total-factor carbon emission performance of fossil fuel power plants in China: A metafrontier non-radial Malmquist index analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 549-559.
    32. Zhang, Yue-Jun & Sun, Ya-Fang & Huang, Junling, 2018. "Energy efficiency, carbon emission performance, and technology gaps: Evidence from CDM project investment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 119-130.
    33. Hidemichi Fujii & Jing Cao & Shunsuke Managi, 2015. "Decomposition of Productivity Considering Multi-environmental Pollutants in Chinese Industrial Sector," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 75-84, February.
    34. Matthew E. Kahn & Pei Li & Daxuan Zhao, 2015. "Water Pollution Progress at Borders: The Role of Changes in China's Political Promotion Incentives," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 223-242, November.
    35. Du, Kerui & Li, Jianglong, 2019. "Towards a green world: How do green technology innovations affect total-factor carbon productivity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 240-250.
    36. Michael E. Porter, 1991. "Towards a dynamic theory of strategy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S2), pages 95-117, December.
    37. Bastian Lange & Ares Kalandides & Birgit Stober & H. A. Mieg, 2008. "Berlin's Creative Industries: Governing Creativity?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 531-548.
    38. Yu, Yantuan & Zhang, Ning, 2021. "Low-carbon city pilot and carbon emission efficiency: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    39. Bert Balk & Rolf Färe & Shawna Grosskopf & Dimitris Margaritis, 2008. "Exact relations between Luenberger productivity indicators and Malmquist productivity indexes," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 35(1), pages 187-190, April.
    40. Caroline Chapain & Roberta Comunian, 2010. "Enabling and Inhibiting the Creative Economy: The Role of the Local and Regional Dimensions in England," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(6), pages 717-734.
    41. Xie, Rui & Fang, Jiayu & Liu, Cenjie, 2017. "The effects of transportation infrastructure on urban carbon emissions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 199-207.
    42. Yang, Zhenbing & Fan, Meiting & Shao, Shuai & Yang, Lili, 2017. "Does carbon intensity constraint policy improve industrial green production performance in China? A quasi-DID analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 271-282.
    43. Du, Kerui & Lin, Boqiang, 2017. "International comparison of total-factor energy productivity growth: A parametric Malmquist index approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 481-488.
    44. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    45. Yang Yao & Muyang Zhang, 2015. "Subnational leaders and economic growth: evidence from Chinese cities," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 405-436, December.
    46. Yue-Jun Zhang & Ya-Bin Da, 2013. "Decomposing the changes of energy-related carbon emissions in China: evidence from the PDA approach," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 69(1), pages 1109-1122, October.
    47. Zhou, P. & Ang, B.W. & Wang, H., 2012. "Energy and CO2 emission performance in electricity generation: A non-radial directional distance function approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(3), pages 625-635.
    48. Li, Pei & Lu, Yi & Wang, Jin, 2016. "Does flattening government improve economic performance? Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 18-37.
    49. Michael E. Porter & Claas van der Linde, 1995. "Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 97-118, Fall.
    50. Di Zhou & Xiaoyu Liang & Ye Zhou & Kai Tang, 2020. "Does Emission Trading Boost Carbon Productivity? Evidence from China’s Pilot Emission Trading Scheme," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-16, July.
    51. WU, Jidong & LI, Ning & SHI, Peijun, 2014. "Benchmark wealth capital stock estimations across China's 344 prefectures: 1978 to 2012," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 288-302.
    52. Gao, Kang & Yuan, Yijun, 2021. "The effect of innovation-driven development on pollution reduction: Empirical evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    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. Sun, Jianhua & Hou, Shaobo & Deng, Yuxia & Li, Huaicheng, 2024. "New media environment, green technological innovation and corporate productivity: Evidence from listed companies in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    2. Li Zhang & Hao Li & Zhumeng Song & Wei Shi & Wenxiang Sheng, 2024. "Measurement of Carbon Total Factor Productivity in the Context of Carbon–Electricity Market Collaboration: An Application of Biennial Luenberger Productivity Index," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Xin, Baogui & Zhang, Tengda & Santibanez-Gonzalez, Ernesto D.R., 2024. "Synergistic effects of regional environmental governance on alleviating energy poverty and promoting household decarbonization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).

    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. Kuang, Yunming & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Natural gas resource utilization, environmental policy and green economic development: Empirical evidence from China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Liu, Guangtian & Wang, Bing & Zhang, Ning, 2016. "A coin has two sides: Which one is driving China’s green TFP growth?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 481-498.
    3. Xue, Chang & Zhang, Xiaoyu, 2024. "Gloomy future, gloomy sky: Promotion incentives and pollution in China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Chen, Shuo & Qiao, Xue & Zhu, Zhitao, 2021. "Chasing or cheating? Theory and evidence on China's GDP manipulation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 657-671.
    5. Shiyi Chen & Xiaoxiao Ding & Pingyi Lou & Hong Song, 2022. "New evidence of moral hazard: Environmental liability insurance and firms' environmental performance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(3), pages 581-613, September.
    6. Jianxin Wu & Ziwei Feng & Chunbo Ma, 2024. "Promotion Incentives and Environmental Regulation: Evidence from China’s Environmental One-Vote Veto Evaluation Regime," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(1), pages 257-286, January.
    7. Zhang, Ning & Wang, Bing, 2015. "A deterministic parametric metafrontier Luenberger indicator for measuring environmentally-sensitive productivity growth: A Korean fossil-fuel power case," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 88-98.
    8. Chen, Yvonne Jie & Li, Pei & Lu, Yi, 2018. "Career concerns and multitasking local bureaucrats: Evidence of a target-based performance evaluation system in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 84-101.
    9. Xie, Tingting & Yuan, Ye, 2023. "Go with the wind: Spatial impacts of environmental regulations on economic activities in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    10. Liu, Yongzheng & Zhang, Xiaoge, 2023. "Environmental regulation, political incentives, and mortality in China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. He, Zhenyu & Tang, Yuwei, 2023. "Local environmental constraints and firms’ export product quality: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    12. Zhang, Muyang & Zhou, Guangsu & Fan, Gang, 2020. "Political Control and Economic Inequality: Evidence from Chinese Cities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    13. Mao, Jie & Wang, Chunhua & Yin, Haitao, 2023. "Corporate responses to air quality regulation: Evidence from a regional environmental policy in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. Tan, Jing & Liu, Tianyi & Xu, Hao, 2024. "The environmental and economic consequences of environmental centralization: Evidence from China's environmental vertical management reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    15. Shiyu Bo, 2021. "Environmental Regulations, Political Incentives and Local Economic Activities: Evidence from China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 812-835, June.
    16. Zhang, Wei & Liu, Xuemeng & Zhao, Shikuan & Tang, Tian, 2024. "Does green finance agglomeration improve carbon emission performance in China? A perspective of spatial spillover," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    17. Ding, Li-Li & Lei, Liang & Zhao, Xin & Calin, Adrian Cantemir, 2020. "Modelling energy and carbon emission performance: A constrained performance index measure," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    18. Cai, Guowei & Zhang, Xuejiao & Yang, Hao, 2022. "Fiscal stress and the formation of zombie firms: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Xi, Tianyang & Yao, Yang & Zhang, Muyang, 2018. "Capability and opportunism: Evidence from city officials in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 1046-1061.
    20. Zhang, Ning & Wei, Xiao, 2015. "Dynamic total factor carbon emissions performance changes in the Chinese transportation industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 409-420.

    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:eee:eneeco:v:125:y:2023:i:c:s0140988323003936. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    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.