IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i2p722-d310568.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evolution of Carbon Shadow Prices in China’s Industrial Sector during 2003–2017: A By-Production Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Wenyin Cheng

    (School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
    Cheng W. and Yang Z. share the first co-authorship.)

  • Zhusong Yang

    (School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
    Cheng W. and Yang Z. share the first co-authorship.)

  • Xia Pan

    (School of Statistics and Mathematics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Tomas Baležentis

    (Division of Farm and Enterprise Economics, Lithuanian Institute of Agrarian Economics, 03220 Vilnius, Lithuania)

  • Xueli Chen

    (School of Languages and Media, Anhui University of Finance and Economics, 962 Caoshan Road, Bengbu 233030, China
    Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100732, China)

Abstract

Global warming and the rapid growth of carbon emissions have attracted the attention of governments and academia throughout the world. In 2006, China surpassed the United States as the emitter of the greatest volume of carbon, the largest contribution of which is derived from China’s industrial sector. This study investigated the evolution of industrial carbon shadow prices (CSPs) in China at the provincial level to assess the opportunity costs in terms of value added foregone owing to decreasing carbon emissions. A dual formulation of the by-production data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was applied to estimate the industrial carbon abatement costs in China during 2003–2017. This study represents the first attempt to apply the dual by-production DEA model for this purpose. Empirical results showed that industrial CSP increased by 3.83% annually and that the average provincial CSP was approximately $562.43 USD/ton. A significant upturn in the CSP occurred after 2006. Furthermore, disparities of changes in industrial CSP over time were checked using the test of sigma convergence. Regional divergence was observed for the period 2011–2017. Policy implications were derived from the empirical results in terms of improvements regarding carbon abatement.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenyin Cheng & Zhusong Yang & Xia Pan & Tomas Baležentis & Xueli Chen, 2020. "Evolution of Carbon Shadow Prices in China’s Industrial Sector during 2003–2017: A By-Production Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:722-:d:310568
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/722/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/722/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhou, X. & Fan, L.W. & Zhou, P., 2015. "Marginal CO2 abatement costs: Findings from alternative shadow price estimates for Shanghai industrial sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 109-117.
    2. Rolf Färe & Shawna Grosskopf & Carl A Pasurka, Jr., 2001. "Accounting for Air Pollution Emissions in Measures of State Manufacturing Productivity Growth," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 381-409, August.
    3. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    4. Song, Malin & Zhu, Shuai & Wang, Jianlin & Zhao, Jiajia, 2020. "Share green growth: Regional evaluation of green output performance in China," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 152-163.
    5. Jin, Peizhen & Peng, Chong & Song, Malin, 2019. "Macroeconomic uncertainty, high-level innovation, and urban green development performance in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-18.
    6. M. Murty & Surender Kumar & Kishore Dhavala, 2007. "Measuring environmental efficiency of industry: a case study of thermal power generation in India," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 38(1), pages 31-50, September.
    7. Tim Coelli & Ludwig Lauwers & Guido Huylenbroeck, 2007. "Environmental efficiency measurement and the materials balance condition," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 3-12, October.
    8. Shen, Zhiyang & Boussemart, Jean-Philippe & Leleu, Hervé, 2017. "Aggregate green productivity growth in OECD’s countries," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 30-39.
    9. Chen, Jiandong & Xu, Chong & Cui, Lianbiao & Huang, Shuo & Song, Malin, 2019. "Driving factors of CO2 emissions and inequality characteristics in China: A combined decomposition approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 589-597.
    10. Yongzhong Jiang & Xueli Chen & Vivian Valdmanis & Tomas Baležentis, 2019. "Evaluating Economic and Environmental Performance of the Chinese Industry Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-17, November.
    11. Zeng, Shihong & Jiang, Xue & Su, Bin & Nan, Xin, 2018. "China's SO2 shadow prices and environmental technical efficiency at the province level," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 86-102.
    12. Gale Boyd & George Tolley & Joseph Pang, 2002. "Plant Level Productivity, Efficiency, and Environmental Performance of the Container Glass Industry," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 23(1), pages 29-43, September.
    13. Hailu, Atakelty & Veeman, Terrence S., 2000. "Environmentally Sensitive Productivity Analysis of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry, 1959-1994: An Input Distance Function Approach," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 251-274, November.
    14. Boussemart, Jean Philippe & Leleu, Hervé & Shen, Zhiyang, 2015. "Environmental growth convergence among Chinese regions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-18.
    15. Murty, Sushama & Robert Russell, R. & Levkoff, Steven B., 2012. "On modeling pollution-generating technologies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 117-135.
    16. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Noh, Dong-Woon & Weber, William, 2005. "Characteristics of a polluting technology: theory and practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 469-492, June.
    17. Rolf Färe & Shawna Grosskopf & William L. Weber, 2001. "Shadow Prices of Missouri Public Conservation Land," Public Finance Review, , vol. 29(6), pages 444-460, November.
    18. Shen, Zhiyang & Baležentis, Tomas & Chen, Xueli & Valdmanis, Vivian, 2018. "Green growth and structural change in Chinese agricultural sector during 1997–2014," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 83-96.
    19. Song, Malin & Fisher, Ron & Kwoh, Yusen, 2019. "Technological challenges of green innovation and sustainable resource management with large scale data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 361-368.
    20. Pittman, Russell W, 1983. "Multilateral Productivity Comparisons with Undesirable Outputs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 93(372), pages 883-891, December.
    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. Jingyan Fu & Artie W. Ng, 2021. "Scaling up Renewable Energy Assets: Issuing Green Bond via Structured Public-Private Collaboration for Managing Risk in an Emerging Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, May.

    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. Wang, Zhaohua & Song, Yanwu & Shen, Zhiyang, 2022. "Global sustainability of carbon shadow pricing: The distance between observed and optimal abatement costs," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    2. Lee, Sang-choon & Oh, Dong-hyun & Lee, Jeong-dong, 2014. "A new approach to measuring shadow price: Reconciling engineering and economic perspectives," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 66-77.
    3. Wu, Yinyin & Yu, Jie & Song, Malin & Chen, Jiandong & Hou, Wenxuan, 2021. "Shadow prices of industrial air pollutant emissions in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 726-736.
    4. Arnaud Abad & Paola Ravelojaona, 2020. "A Generalization of Environmental Productivity Analysis," Working Papers hal-02964799, HAL.
    5. Yongzhong Jiang & Xueli Chen & Vivian Valdmanis & Tomas Baležentis, 2019. "Evaluating Economic and Environmental Performance of the Chinese Industry Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Yu-Ying Lin, Eugene & Chen, Ping-Yu & Chen, Chi-Chung, 2013. "Measuring green productivity of country: A generlized metafrontier Malmquist productivity index approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 340-353.
    7. Adewale Henry Adenuga & John Davis & George Hutchinson & Trevor Donnellan & Myles Patton, 2019. "Environmental Efficiency and Pollution Costs of Nitrogen Surplus in Dairy Farms: A Parametric Hyperbolic Technology Distance Function Approach," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(3), pages 1273-1298, November.
    8. Ma, Chunbo & Hailu, Atakelty & You, Chaoying, 2019. "A critical review of distance function based economic research on China’s marginal abatement cost of carbon dioxide emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    9. Li, Tianxiang & Baležentis, Tomas & Makutėnienė, Daiva & Streimikiene, Dalia & Kriščiukaitienė, Irena, 2016. "Energy-related CO2 emission in European Union agriculture: Driving forces and possibilities for reduction," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 682-694.
    10. Zhou, P. & Zhou, X. & Fan, L.W., 2014. "On estimating shadow prices of undesirable outputs with efficiency models: A literature review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 799-806.
    11. Tang, Kai & Yang, Lin & Zhang, Jianwu, 2016. "Estimating the regional total factor efficiency and pollutants’ marginal abatement costs in China: A parametric approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 230-240.
    12. Du, Limin & Hanley, Aoife & Wei, Chu, 2015. "Estimating the Marginal Abatement Cost Curve of CO2 Emissions in China: Provincial Panel Data Analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 217-229.
    13. Murty, Sushama & Russell, R. Robert, 2010. "On modeling pollution-generating technologies," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 931, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    14. Shen, Zhiyang & Baležentis, Tomas & Chen, Xueli & Valdmanis, Vivian, 2018. "Green growth and structural change in Chinese agricultural sector during 1997–2014," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 83-96.
    15. Dong-Hyun Oh & JongWuk Ahn & Sinwoo Lee & Hyundo Choi, 2021. "Measuring technical inefficiency and CO2 shadow price of Korean fossil-fuel generation companies using deterministic and stochastic approaches," Energy & Environment, , vol. 32(3), pages 403-423, May.
    16. Dakpo, K Hervé, 2016. "On modeling pollution-generating technologies: a new formulation of the by-production approach," Working Papers 245191, Institut National de la recherche Agronomique (INRA), Departement Sciences Sociales, Agriculture et Alimentation, Espace et Environnement (SAE2).
    17. Wei, Chu & Löschel, Andreas & Liu, Bing, 2013. "An empirical analysis of the CO2 shadow price in Chinese thermal power enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 22-31.
    18. Leleu, Hervé, 2013. "Shadow pricing of undesirable outputs in nonparametric analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(2), pages 474-480.
    19. Rødseth, Kenneth Løvold, 2013. "Capturing the least costly way of reducing pollution: A shadow price approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 16-24.
    20. Kenneth Løvold Rødseth, 2017. "Environmental regulations and allocative efficiency: application to coal-to-gas substitution in the U.S. electricity sector," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 129-142, April.

    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:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:722-:d:310568. 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.