IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i12p7312-d839150.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Energy Price Distortions Affect China’s Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Ru Sha

    (School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, No. 666 Shengli Road, Tianshan District, Urumqi 830046, China
    Institute for Macroeconomy High-Quality Development of Xinjiang, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China)

  • Tao Ge

    (Economics and Management School, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China)

  • Jinye Li

    (School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, No. 666 Shengli Road, Tianshan District, Urumqi 830046, China
    Institute for Macroeconomy High-Quality Development of Xinjiang, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China)

Abstract

China’s energy market reform is characterized by “asymmetry” as a result of the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, leading to typical distortions in energy prices. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces during 2006–2018, this paper examines the impact of the price distortions of fossil energy sources (coal, oil, and natural gas) as well as renewable energy on China’s economic growth and carbon emissions. The results show that coal price distortion is the highest among the fossil energy sources, followed by oil and natural gas. Renewable energy price is positively distorted. Not all price distortions of energy sources significantly impede economic growth—only those of coal and renewable energy. In contrast, oil and natural gas price distortions promote economic growth. All four energy price distortions contribute significantly to the increase in carbon emissions. Further analysis reveals that regional heterogeneity exists in the impact of energy price distortions on economic growth and carbon emissions. Additionally, this study finds that technological innovation, industrial structure upgrading, the investment effect, the optimization of energy consumption structure, and environmental regulations are important transmission mechanisms of energy price distortions affecting China’s economic growth and carbon emissions. The findings of this study can help us to understand the relationship between energy price distortions and China’s economic growth and carbon emissions, and provide a reference for formulating energy price reform policies that benefit the win-win development of China’s economy and environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Ru Sha & Tao Ge & Jinye Li, 2022. "How Energy Price Distortions Affect China’s Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-27, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7312-:d:839150
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7312/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7312/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaolei Wang & Hui Wang & Shuang Liang & Shichun Xu, 2021. "The Influence of Energy Price Distortion on Region Energy Efficiency in China’s Energy-Intensive Industries from the Perspectives of Urban Heterogeneity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2016. "Impact of energy conservation policies on the green productivity in China’s manufacturing sector: Evidence from a three-stage DEA model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 351-363.
    3. Diego Restuccia & Richard Rogerson, 2008. "Policy Distortions and Aggregate Productivity with Heterogeneous Plants," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(4), pages 707-720, October.
    4. Sun, Chuanwang & Lin, Boqiang, 2013. "Reforming residential electricity tariff in China: Block tariffs pricing approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 741-752.
    5. Qiao, Sen & Zhao, Dong Hao & Guo, Zi Xin & Tao, Zhang, 2022. "Factor price distortions, environmental regulation and innovation efficiency: An empirical study on China's power enterprises," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    6. Ju, Keyi & Su, Bin & Zhou, Dequn & Wu, Junmin, 2017. "Does energy-price regulation benefit China's economy and environment? Evidence from energy-price distortions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 108-119.
    7. Xu, Mengmeng & Tan, Ruipeng, 2021. "Removing energy allocation distortion to increase economic output and energy efficiency in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Lin, Boqiang & Chen, Yufang, 2019. "Does electricity price matter for innovation in renewable energy technologies in China?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 259-266.
    10. Keyi Ju & Qunwei Wang & Lifan Liu & Dequn Zhou, 2019. "Measurement of the Price Distortion Degree for Exhaustible Energy Resources in China: A Discount Rate Perspective," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(12), pages 2718-2737, September.
    11. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    12. Bruce Skoorka, 2000. "Measuring market distortion: international comparisons, policy and competitiveness," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3), pages 253-264.
    13. Li, Wei & Sun, Wen & Li, Guomin & Jin, Baihui & Wu, Wen & Cui, Pengfei & Zhao, Guohao, 2018. "Transmission mechanism between energy prices and carbon emissions using geographically weighted regression," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 434-442.
    14. Ma, Hengyun & Oxley, Les, 2011. "Are China's energy markets cointegrated?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 398-407, September.
    15. Zhiwen He & Wenwu Xing & Yongxiu Chen, 2021. "Marketization, Industrial Structure Upgrading, and Energy Efficiency," Energy RESEARCH LETTERS, Asia-Pacific Applied Economics Association, vol. 2(2), pages 1-5.
    16. Sultan Salem & Noman Arshed & Ahsan Anwar & Mubasher Iqbal & Nyla Sattar, 2021. "Renewable Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions—Testing Nonlinearity for Highly Carbon Emitting Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, October.
    17. Yang Zhou & Jintao Fu & Ying Kong & Rui Wu, 2018. "How Foreign Direct Investment Influences Carbon Emissions, Based on the Empirical Analysis of Chinese Urban Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, June.
    18. Trujillo-Baute, Elisa & del Río, Pablo & Mir-Artigues, Pere, 2018. "Analysing the impact of renewable energy regulation on retail electricity prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 153-164.
    19. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2018. "How to promote energy efficiency through technological progress in China?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 812-821.
    20. Hosier, Richard H. & Dowd, Jeffrey, 1987. "Household fuel choice in Zimbabwe : An empirical test of the energy ladder hypothesis," Resources and Energy, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 347-361, December.
    21. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2009. "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1403-1448.
    22. Lin, Boqiang & Jiang, Zhujun, 2011. "Estimates of energy subsidies in China and impact of energy subsidy reform," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 273-283, March.
    23. Sha, Ru & Li, Jinye & Ge, Tao, 2021. "How do price distortions of fossil energy sources affect China's green economic efficiency?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    24. Wang, Qiang & Qiu, Huan-Ning & Kuang, Yaoqiu, 2009. "Market-driven energy pricing necessary to ensure China's power supply," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2498-2504, July.
    25. Lin, Boqiang & Du, Kerui, 2015. "Energy and CO2 emissions performance in China's regional economies: Do market-oriented reforms matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 113-124.
    26. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    27. Azam, Anam & Rafiq, Muhammad & Shafique, Muhammad & Zhang, Haonan & Yuan, Jiahai, 2021. "Analyzing the effect of natural gas, nuclear energy and renewable energy on GDP and carbon emissions: A multi-variate panel data analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    28. Cui, Herui & Wei, Pengbang, 2017. "Analysis of thermal coal pricing and the coal price distortion in China from the perspective of market forces," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 148-154.
    29. He, Yongxiu & Liu, Yangyang & Wang, Jianhui & Xia, Tian & Zhao, Yushan, 2014. "Low-carbon-oriented dynamic optimization of residential energy pricing in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 610-623.
    30. Chen, Shiyi & Jin, Hao & Lu, Yulin, 2019. "Impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions and energy consumption structure: A panel data analysis for Chinese prefecture-level cities," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 107-119.
    31. Yang, Mian & Yang, Fuxia & Sun, Chuanwang, 2018. "Factor market distortion correction, resource reallocation and potential productivity gains: An empirical study on China's heavy industry sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 270-279.
    32. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Sun, Chuanwang, 2015. "Energy savings potential in China's industrial sector: From the perspectives of factor price distortion and allocative inefficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 117-126.
    33. Dai, Xiaoyong & Cheng, Liwei, 2016. "Market distortions and aggregate productivity: Evidence from Chinese energy enterprises," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 304-313.
    34. Lin, Boqiang & Xu, Bin, 2021. "A non-parametric analysis of the driving factors of China's carbon prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    35. Liu, Wei & Li, Hong, 2011. "Improving energy consumption structure: A comprehensive assessment of fossil energy subsidies reform in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4134-4143, July.
    36. Haller, Stefanie A. & Hyland, Marie, 2014. "Capital–energy substitution: Evidence from a panel of Irish manufacturing firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 501-510.
    37. Zhang, Jin & Xie, Mingjia, 2016. "China's oil product pricing mechanism: What role does it play in China's macroeconomy?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 209-221.
    38. Lin, Boqiang & Zhou, Yicheng, 2022. "Measuring the green economic growth in China: Influencing factors and policy perspectives," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    39. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Wei, Xiaoyun & Sun, Chuanwang & Du, Gang, 2018. "Impact of factor price distortions on energy efficiency: Evidence from provincial-level panel data in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 573-583.
    40. Li, Kunming & Fang, Liting & He, Lerong, 2019. "How population and energy price affect China's environmental pollution?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 386-396.
    41. Zhang, Shangfeng & Chen, Congcong & Huang, Duen-Huang & Hu, Lang, 2022. "Measurement of factor price distortion: A new production function method with time-varying elasticity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    42. Weiping Jia & Xianwen Jia & Ling Wu & Yanbing Guo & Teng Yang & Ermei Wang & Pan Xiao, 2022. "Research on regional differences of the impact of clean energy development on carbon dioxide emission and economic growth," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    43. Chiu, Yi-Bin, 2017. "Carbon dioxide, income and energy: Evidence from a non-linear model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 279-288.
    44. Wu, Haitao & Xu, Lina & Ren, Siyu & Hao, Yu & Yan, Guoyao, 2020. "How do energy consumption and environmental regulation affect carbon emissions in China? New evidence from a dynamic threshold panel model," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    45. Sun, Qi & Xu, Lin & Yin, Hua, 2016. "Energy pricing reform and energy efficiency in China: Evidence from the automobile market," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 39-51.
    46. Li, Aijun & Lin, Boqiang, 2013. "Comparing climate policies to reduce carbon emissions in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 667-674.
    47. Shi, Xunpeng & Sun, Sizhong, 2017. "Energy price, regulatory price distortion and economic growth: A case study of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 261-271.
    48. Hao Chen & Ling He & Jiachuan Chen & Bo Yuan & Teng Huang & Qi Cui, 2019. "Impacts of Clean Energy Substitution for Polluting Fossil-Fuels in Terminal Energy Consumption on the Economy and Environment in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-29, November.
    49. Tan, Ruipeng & Lin, Boqiang & Liu, Xiying, 2019. "Impacts of eliminating the factor distortions on energy efficiency—A focus on China's secondary industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 693-701.
    50. Wang, Xiaolei & Bai, Mengqi & Xie, Chunping, 2019. "Investigating CO2 mitigation potentials and the impact of oil price distortion in China's transport sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 320-327.
    51. Joel Alejandro Rosado & Mar a Isabel Alvarado S nchez, 2017. "The Influence of Economic Growth and Electric Consumption on Pollution in South America Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(3), pages 121-126.
    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. Liu, Haiying & Pata, Ugur Korkut & Zafar, Muhammad Wasif & Kartal, Mustafa Tevfik & Karlilar, Selin & Caglar, Abdullah Emre, 2023. "Do oil and natural gas prices affect carbon efficiency? Daily evidence from China by wavelet transform-based approaches," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    2. Qi Zhang & Yi Hu & Jianbin Jiao & Shouyang Wang, 2022. "Exploring the Trend of Commodity Prices: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Razzaq, Asif & Sharif, Arshian & Yang, Xiaodong & Dogan, Eyup, 2024. "Influence mechanism of electricity price distortion on industrial green transformation: A spatial analysis of Chinese regions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(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. Sha, Ru & Li, Jinye & Ge, Tao, 2021. "How do price distortions of fossil energy sources affect China's green economic efficiency?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    2. Zhu, Qingyuan & Xu, Chengzhen & Chen, Qingjuan & Wu, Liangpeng, 2024. "Oil price distortion and its impact on green economic efficiency in China’s transportation: A spatial effect perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Wu, Liangpeng & Xu, Chengzhen & Zhu, Qingyuan & Zhou, Dequn, 2024. "Multiple energy price distortions and improvement of potential energy consumption structure in the energy transition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
    4. Xu, Mengmeng & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Energy efficiency gains from distortion mitigation: A perspective on the metallurgical industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Gao, Kang & Yuan, Yijun, 2022. "Does market-oriented reform make the industrial sector “Greener” in China? Fresh evidence from the perspective of capital-labor-energy market distortions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).
    6. Wang, Xiaolei & Bai, Mengqi & Xie, Chunping, 2019. "Investigating CO2 mitigation potentials and the impact of oil price distortion in China's transport sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 320-327.
    7. Qiao, Sen & Zhao, Dong Hao & Guo, Zi Xin & Tao, Zhang, 2022. "Factor price distortions, environmental regulation and innovation efficiency: An empirical study on China's power enterprises," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    8. Xu, Mengmeng & Tan, Ruipeng, 2021. "Removing energy allocation distortion to increase economic output and energy efficiency in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    9. Yue Liu & Siming Liu & Xueying Xu & Pierre Failler, 2020. "Does Energy Price Induce China’s Green Energy Innovation?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, August.
    10. Yang, Mian & Yang, Fuxia & Sun, Chuanwang, 2018. "Factor market distortion correction, resource reallocation and potential productivity gains: An empirical study on China's heavy industry sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 270-279.
    11. Juan Tang & Fangming Qin, 2022. "Analyzing the impact of local government competition on green total factor productivity from the factor market distortion perspective: based on the three stage DEA model," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(12), pages 14298-14326, December.
    12. Tao, Zhang & Huang, Xiao Yue & Dang, Yi Jing & Qiao, Sen, 2022. "The impact of factor market distortions on profit sustainable growth of Chinese renewable energy enterprises: The moderating effect of environmental regulation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1068-1080.
    13. Tan, Ruipeng & Xu, Mengmeng & Sun, Chuanwang, 2021. "The impacts of energy reallocation on economic output and CO2 emissions in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    14. Peng Hou & Yilin Li & Yong Tan & Yuanjie Hou, 2020. "Energy Price and Energy Efficiency in China: A Linear and Nonlinear Empirical Investigation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-24, August.
    15. Ying Li & Wing-Keung Wong & Ming Jing Yang & Yang-Che Wu & Tien-Trung Nguyen, 2022. "Modeling the Linkage between Vertical Contracts and Strategic Environmental Policy: Energy Price Marketization Level and Strategic Choice for China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-12, June.
    16. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Wei, Xiaoyun & Sun, Chuanwang & Du, Gang, 2018. "Impact of factor price distortions on energy efficiency: Evidence from provincial-level panel data in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 573-583.
    17. Yang, Zhenbing & Shao, Shuai & Fan, Meiting & Yang, Lili, 2021. "Wage distortion and green technological progress: A directed technological progress perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    18. Zhang, Qi & Hu, Yi & Jiao, Jianbin & Wang, Shouyang, 2023. "Is refined oil price regulation a “shock absorber” for crude oil price shocks?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    19. Ju, Keyi & Su, Bin & Zhou, Dequn & Wu, Junmin, 2017. "Does energy-price regulation benefit China's economy and environment? Evidence from energy-price distortions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 108-119.
    20. Li, Zhen & Wu, Baijun & Wang, Danyang & Tang, Maogang, 2022. "Government mandatory energy-biased technological progress and enterprises' environmental performance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of cleaner production standards in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).

    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:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7312-:d:839150. 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.