IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i15p6950-d1714028.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Collaborative Industrial Agglomeration and a Green Low-Carbon Circular Development Economy: A Study Based on Provincial Panel Data in China

Author

Listed:
  • Mengqi Gong

    (School of Law and Business, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China)

  • Gege He

    (School of Law and Business, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China)

  • Yizi Wang

    (School of Law and Business, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China)

  • Yiyue Yang

    (School of Law and Business, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China)

  • Xinru Li

    (School of Law and Business, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China)

Abstract

As an important direction in industrial evolution, the synergistic agglomeration of manufacturing and productive service industries has become a key path to promote the green transformation of the economy. Based on China’s provincial panel data, this study utilizes a variety of econometric methods to explore in depth the mechanisms, spatial effects and regional differences in the impact of the synergistic agglomeration of manufacturing and productive service industries on the green, low-carbon and recycling development of the economy. The empirical results show that the synergistic agglomeration of manufacturing and productive services not only directly promotes the green, low-carbon and recycling development of the economy, but also generates an indirect impact through the intermediary channel and exhibits significant spillover characteristics in the spatial dimension. This conclusion holds firm after a series of robustness tests. In addition, environmental regulations and the level of regional industrialization play a moderating role on the impact of industrial synergistic agglomeration and green, low-carbon and recycling development of the economy, and the effect of the role varies across regions and levels of economic development. This paper provides a decision-making reference for further optimizing the regional layout of China’s industries and enhancing the green, low-carbon and recycling development of the economy in each province.

Suggested Citation

  • Mengqi Gong & Gege He & Yizi Wang & Yiyue Yang & Xinru Li, 2025. "Collaborative Industrial Agglomeration and a Green Low-Carbon Circular Development Economy: A Study Based on Provincial Panel Data in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-27, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:15:p:6950-:d:1714028
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6950/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6950/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emma Howard & Carol Newman & Finn Tarp, 2016. "Measuring industry coagglomeration and identifying the driving forces," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(5), pages 1055-1078.
    2. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 2002. "The role of the service sector in the process of industrialization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 401-420, August.
    3. Shen, Neng & Peng, Hui, 2021. "Can industrial agglomeration achieve the emission-reduction effect?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Ellison, Glenn & Glaeser, Edward L, 1997. "Geographic Concentration in U.S. Manufacturing Industries: A Dartboard Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(5), pages 889-927, October.
    5. Fraccascia, Luca, 2019. "The impact of technical and economic disruptions in industrial symbiosis relationships: An enterprise input-output approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 161-174.
    6. Joseph Francois & Julia Woerz, 2008. "Producer Services, Manufacturing Linkages, and Trade," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 199-229, December.
    7. Marta Negri & Alessandra Neri & Enrico Cagno & Gabriele Monfardini, 2021. "Circular Economy Performance Measurement in Manufacturing Firms: A Systematic Literature Review with Insights for Small and Medium Enterprises and New Adopters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-27, August.
    8. Tanya Tsui & David Peck & Bob Geldermans & Arjan van Timmeren, 2020. "The Role of Urban Manufacturing for a Circular Economy in Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-22, December.
    9. 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.
    10. Ding, Jian & Liu, Baoliu & Shao, Xuefeng, 2022. "Spatial effects of industrial synergistic agglomeration and regional green development efficiency: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    11. Luis Miguel Fonseca & José Pedro Domingues & Maria Teresa Pereira & Florinda Figueiredo Martins & Dominik Zimon, 2018. "Assessment of Circular Economy within Portuguese Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-24, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Mei Song & Yujin Gao & Furong Dong & Yunan Feng, 2023. "Research on the Spatial Spillover Effect of Industrial Agglomeration on the Economic Growth in the Yellow River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Wang, Miao & Wu, Yi & Zhang, Xinmin & Lei, Lei, 2024. "How does industrial agglomeration affect internal structures of green economy in China? An analysis based on a three-hierarchy meta-frontier DEA and systematic GMM approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    4. Xiaoxuan Li & Ying Liu, 2024. "The Economic Spillover Effect of the Collaborative Agglomeration between Manufacturing and Producer Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Weijun He & Yizhan Li & Xu Meng & Mengfei Song & Thomas Stephen Ramsey & Min An, 2024. "Will green technological progress help industrial collaborative agglomeration increase regional carbon productivity: evidence from Yangtze River Delta urban agglomerations," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 26019-26046, October.
    6. Peng, Hui & Lu, Yaobin & Wang, Qunwei, 2023. "How does heterogeneous industrial agglomeration affect the total factor energy efficiency of China's digital economy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    7. Kristian Behrens, 2016. "Agglomeration and clusters: Tools and insights from coagglomeration patterns," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(4), pages 1293-1339, November.
    8. Rawaa Laajimi & Julie Le Gallo & Saloua Benammou, 2020. "What Geographical Concentration of Industries in the Tunisian Sahel? Empirical Evidence Using Distance‐Based Measures," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 111(5), pages 738-757, December.
    9. Du, Congcong & Cao, Yunhui & Ling, Yushan & Jin, Zebin & Wang, Shibo & Wang, Daoping, 2024. "Does manufacturing agglomeration promote green productivity growth in China? Fresh evidence from partially linear functional-coefficient models," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    10. Neave O'Clery & Samuel Heroy & Francois Hulot & Mariano Beguerisse-D'iaz, 2019. "Unravelling the forces underlying urban industrial agglomeration," Papers 1903.09279, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2019.
    11. Wei Li & Yingying Wang, 2024. "Producer services agglomeration and green growth: evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-35, June.
    12. Anhui Guo & Limin Han & Shan Zheng, 2024. "How does industrial agglomeration affect green innovation efficiency in high-tech industries?—Evidence from China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(12), pages 30771-30796, December.
    13. Cuiping Yu & Decai Tang & Acheampong Paul Tenkorang & Brandon J. Bethel, 2021. "The Impact of the Opening of Producer Services on the International Competitiveness of Manufacturing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-17, October.
    14. Miao, Xin & Chen, Mingkun & Tu, Jiayin & Tian, Yuze & Hao, Yu, 2024. "The environmental consequences of industrial agglomeration: New evidence from city-level data in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 630-645.
    15. 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).
    16. Diodato, Dario & Neffke, Frank & O’Clery, Neave, 2018. "Why do industries coagglomerate? How Marshallian externalities differ by industry and have evolved over time," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-26.
    17. Vasavi Bhatt, 2025. "Occupational concentration and specialized knowledge: evidence from census of India," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(3), pages 1-30, September.
    18. John Rand & Finn Tarp & Neda Trifković & Helge Zille, 2019. "Industrial agglomeration in Myanmar," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-3, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Xiaowen Wang & Nishang Tian & Shuting Wang, 2022. "The Impact of Information and Communication Technology Industrial Co-Agglomeration on Carbon Productivity with the Background of the Digital Economy: Empirical Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-21, December.
    20. Wang, Chenchen & Liu, Yaobin & Hu, Sheng & Liu, Xuewen, 2024. "Can new digital infrastructure enhance ecological total factor productivity? Evidence from Chinese cities," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1521-1537.

    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:17:y:2025:i:15:p:6950-:d:1714028. 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.