IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v18y2026i13p6410-d1974038.html

How Does the Improvement of Ecological Compensation Efficiency Affect Urban Economic Resilience? Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

Author

Listed:
  • Jun Ma

    (School of Economics and Finance, Hohai University, Changzhou 213200, China
    Institute of Water Conservancy and Economics, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
    Coastal Development and Protection Collaborative Innovation Center, Nanjing 210098, China)

  • Mengyue Wang

    (School of Economics and Finance, Hohai University, Changzhou 213200, China)

  • Changgao Cheng

    (School of Economics and Finance, Hohai University, Changzhou 213200, China)

Abstract

This study examines whether and through what channels ecological compensation efficiency affects urban economic resilience from a watershed-scale perspective. Using panel data for 108 prefecture-level cities in China’s Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2011 to 2023, ecological compensation efficiency is first measured with a super-efficiency SBM model incorporating undesirable outputs. A two-way fixed effects model, a mechanism-testing framework, robustness checks, and a spatial Durbin model are then employed to investigate its direct effect, transmission mechanisms, and spatial spillovers. The results show that (1) ecological compensation efficiency significantly enhances urban economic resilience, and this finding remains robust under alternative indicator measurements and model specifications; (2) mechanism analysis indicates that ecological compensation efficiency strengthens urban economic resilience by promoting green technological innovation and facilitating digital–real economy integration; and (3) spatial analysis further reveals significant positive spillover effects on neighboring cities. These findings suggest that improving ecological compensation efficiency can enhance both local and regional economic resilience. This study enriches the literature on ecological compensation and resilient urban development and provides policy implications for efficiency improvement, green and digital transformation, and cross-regional collaborative governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Jun Ma & Mengyue Wang & Changgao Cheng, 2026. "How Does the Improvement of Ecological Compensation Efficiency Affect Urban Economic Resilience? Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-28, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:18:y:2026:i:13:p:6410-:d:1974038
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/13/6410/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/13/6410/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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:18:y:2026:i:13:p:6410-:d:1974038. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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 The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (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.