IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i20p8905-d1498624.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of the Coupling Coordination Degree of Human Capital and Infrastructure on High-Quality Economic Development: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Jinqi Chen

    (Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Jungong Road 516, Yangpu District, Shanghai 200093, China)

  • Lingying Pan

    (Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Jungong Road 516, Yangpu District, Shanghai 200093, China)

Abstract

China’s economy is transitioning from high-speed to high-quality development, making coordination between economic factors increasingly important. Human capital (HC) and infrastructure (INFRA) are important elements of economic development, and the coupling coordination of the two can have a non-negligible impact on regional economies’ high-quality development. Therefore, this study measures the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of HC and INFRA based on data of 184 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019, and comprehensively examines the impact effect and mechanism of the CCD on high-quality economic development (HQED). The relevant results are threefold. (1) Compared with single factors, the degree of HC-INFRA CCD can promote HQED more efficiently. (2) A significant single-threshold effect is evident in the promotion of HQED by the degree of HC-INFRA CCD, and a smaller city size and more extensive higher education institutions promote a stronger threshold effect. (3) Factor allocation and factor efficiency are significant transmission mechanisms of the HC-INFRA CCD affecting HQED, and the mediating effect of the capital-labor force allocation path accounts for 66.28% of the total indirect effect. The results provide empirical evidence verifying that HC-INFRA CCD promotes HQED, along with insightful reference suggestions for formulating relevant macro policies and promoting high-quality urban economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Jinqi Chen & Lingying Pan, 2024. "Impact of the Coupling Coordination Degree of Human Capital and Infrastructure on High-Quality Economic Development: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-24, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:20:p:8905-:d:1498624
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/20/8905/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/20/8905/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pradhan, Rudra P. & Arvin, Mak B. & Bahmani, Sahar & Hall, John H. & Norman, Neville R., 2017. "Finance and growth: Evidence from the ARF countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 136-148.
    2. Daido, Kohei & Tabata, Ken, 2013. "Public infrastructure, production organization, and economic development," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PB), pages 330-346.
    3. Zhang, Yi & Kumar, Sanjay & Huang, Xianhai & Yuan, Yiming, 2023. "Human capital quality and the regional economic growth: Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Lin, Boqiang & Chen, Yu, 2019. "Will economic infrastructure development affect the energy intensity of China's manufacturing industry?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 122-131.
    5. Adalgiso Amendola & Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2020. "Does graduate human capital production increase local economic development? An instrumental variable approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 959-994, November.
    6. Yang Liu & Yiying Jiang & Zhaobin Pei & Na Xia & Aijun Wang, 2023. "Evolution of the Coupling Coordination between the Marine Economy and Digital Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-25, March.
    7. António Afonso & M. Carmen Blanco-Arana, 2022. "Financial and economic development in the context of the global 2008-09 financial crisis," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 169, pages 30-42.
    8. Sahn, David E. & Alderman, Harold, 1988. "The effects of human capital on wages, and the determinants of labor supply in a developing country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 157-183, September.
    9. 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.
    10. Tsaurai Kunofiwa & Ndou Adam, 2019. "Infrastructure, Human Capital Development and Economic Growth in Transitional Countries," Comparative Economic Research, Sciendo, vol. 22(1), pages 33-52, March.
    11. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. 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.
    13. Guo, Bingnan & Wang, Yu & Zhang, Hao & Liang, Chunyan & Feng, Yu & Hu, Feng, 2023. "Impact of the digital economy on high-quality urban economic development: Evidence from Chinese cities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    14. Pan, Xiongfeng & Uddin, Md. Kamal & Saima, Umme & Jiao, Zhiming & Han, Cuicui, 2019. "How do industrialization and trade openness influence energy intensity? Evidence from a path model in case of Bangladesh," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    15. Liu, Taoxiong & Yan, Wenwen & Zhang, Yadi, 2023. "Functional or selective policy? - Research on the relationship between government intervention and enterprise innovation in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 82-96.
    16. Ding, Yu & Lu, Huapu, 2016. "Activity participation as a mediating variable to analyze the effect of land use on travel behavior: A structural equation modeling approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 23-28.
    17. Wang, Jue, 2018. "Innovation and government intervention: A comparison of Singapore and Hong Kong," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 399-412.
    18. Zhang, Yijia & Cheng, Lu, 2023. "The role of transport infrastructure in economic growth: Empirical evidence in the UK," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 223-233.
    19. Kopecky, Joseph, 2023. "Population age structure and secular stagnation: Evidence from long run data," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    20. Paula Prenzel & Simona Iammarino, 2021. "Labor Force Aging and the Composition of Regional Human Capital," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 97(2), pages 140-163, March.
    21. López-Bazo, Enrique & Moreno, Rosina, 2008. "Does human capital stimulate investment in physical capital?: Evidence from a cost system framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1295-1305, November.
    22. 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).
    23. Wang, Mei & Xu, Mi & Ma, Shaojun, 2021. "The effect of the spatial heterogeneity of human capital structure on regional green total factor productivity," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 427-441.
    24. Dai, Xiaoyong & Cheng, Liwei, 2019. "Aggregate productivity losses from factor misallocation across Chinese manufacturing firms," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 30-41.
    25. Guo, Jie & Sun, Zixu, 2023. "How does manufacturing agglomeration affect high-quality economic development in China?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 673-691.
    26. Janzen, Katrin & Panitz, Robert & Glückler, Johannes, 2022. "Education premium and the compound impact of universities on their regional economy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    27. Shao, Shuai & Zhang, Xuebin & Yang, Lili, 2023. "Natural resource dependence and urban shrinkage: The role of human capital accumulation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(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. Saqib Munir, 2025. "Accelerating entrepreneurial ecosystems in Muslim-majority countries: the impact of institutional quality, digital infrastructure, and economic factors on new business formation," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-18, December.

    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. Hao, Yu & Gai, Zhiqiang & Wu, Haitao, 2020. "How do resource misallocation and government corruption affect green total factor energy efficiency? Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    2. Yue Xu & Zihao Xu & Dayu Zhai & Yanyu Li, 2023. "Effects of Higher Education on Green Eco-Efficiency and Its Optimization Path: Case Study of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Feng, Wei & Sun, Shujun & Yuan, Hang, 2023. "Research on the efficiency of factor allocation in the pilot free trade zones," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 727-745.
    4. Xiaohua Sun & Danish Khan & Yubai Zheng, 2024. "Articulating the Role of Technological Innovation and Policy Uncertainty in Energy Efficiency: an Empirical Investigation," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 14597-14616, September.
    5. Zhaohua Zhang & Zhao Zhang & Xin Wang & Derrick Robinson, 2023. "Unraveling the rectifying role of transportation improvement on resource misallocation among manufacturing firms in China–Facts and mechanism," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(8), pages 1-22, August.
    6. Cao, Lihong & Wang, Yueying & Yu, Jinyi & Zhang, Yikai & Yin, Xiaoye, 2024. "The impact of digital economy on low-carbon transition: What is the role of human capital?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
    7. Zhang, Jinyue & Sun, Zhenglin, 2025. "Energy-environmental efficiency enhancement using green finance through spatio-temporal heterogeneity and dynamic regulatory mechanisms: Multiple perspectives study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    8. Xu, Yuanbin & Wei, Yuan & Zeng, Xin & Yu, Haiqing & Chen, Hongjie, 2024. "Big data development and labor income share: Evidence from China's national big data comprehensive pilot zones," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1415-1437.
    9. Heng Zhang & Xiangyu Guo, 2024. "Farmland Rental Market, Outsourcing Services Market and Agricultural Green Productivity: Implications for Multiple Forms of Large-Scale Management," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-23, May.
    10. Yunyan Jiang & Feng Deng, 2022. "Multi-Dimensional Threshold Effects of the Digital Economy on Green Economic Growth?—New Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, October.
    11. Junjun Tang & Xing Zhao, 2023. "Does the new digital infrastructure improve total factor productivity?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 895-916, October.
    12. Shen, Zhiyang & Wang, Songkai & Boussemart, Jean-Philippe & Hao, Yu, 2022. "Digital transition and green growth in Chinese agriculture," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    13. Lin, Boqiang & Chen, Yu, 2020. "Transportation infrastructure and efficient energy services: A perspective of China's manufacturing industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Ai, Hongshan & Tan, Xiaoqing & Mangla, Sachin Kumar & Emrouznejad, Ali & Liu, Fan & Song, Malin, 2025. "Renewable energy transition and sustainable development: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    15. David E. Bloom & Alex Khoury & Vadim Kufenko & Klaus Prettner, 2021. "Spurring Economic Growth through Human Development: Research Results and Guidance for Policymakers," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(2), pages 377-409, June.
    16. Jun Zhou & Tang-fei Hu & Zhengqi Wei & Dandan Ji, 2025. "Evaluation of High-Quality Development Level of Regional Economy and Exploration of Index Obstacle Degree: A Case Study of Henan Province," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(2), pages 10566-10598, June.
    17. Li, Lei & Zheng, Yifan & Ma, Shaojun & Ma, Xiaoyu & Zuo, Jian & Goodsite, Michael, 2025. "Unfavorable weather, favorable insights: Exploring the impact of extreme climate on green total factor productivity," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 626-640.
    18. Chengming Li & Meiyu Wen & Shaoxiang Jiang & Huaxing Wang, 2024. "Assessing the effect of urban digital infrastructure on green innovation: mechanism identification and spatial-temporal characteristics," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    19. He, Yu & Zhang, Xiaoqi & Zheng, Huan, 2025. "Impact of the Yangtze River economic belt on high-quality economic development in China: Evidence from a spatial difference-in-differences model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    20. Liu, Rui & Zheng, Linhao & Chen, Zheang & Cheng, Mengyao & Ren, Yuzhuo, 2024. "Digitalization through supply chains: Evidence from the customer concentration of Chinese listed companies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:16:y:2024:i:20:p:8905-:d:1498624. 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.