IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v27y2025i4d10.1007_s10668-023-04282-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the impact of marketization on energy poverty

Author

Listed:
  • Xinjie Shi

    (Zhejiang University
    Future Regional Development Laboratory, Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University
    Center for Common Prosperity of Zhejiang University & Huzhou City
    Zhejiang University)

  • Pei Zeng

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Liu Cui

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Xuwen Gao

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Tongwei Qiu

    (Nanjing Agricultural University)

  • Qiang Jiang

    (Guangxi University of Science and Technology)

  • Linlin Fu

    (Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Science)

Abstract

In conjunction with economic growth, improving the quality of life for its citizens is a central concern for the Chinese government. Energy poverty, a topic closely linked to people’s quality of life, has garnered global attention. This study examines the relationship between marketization and energy poverty by constructing provincial-level panel data using the fixed effect model. To address endogeneity, the instrumental variable method is further employed. The study obtains two major findings. First, the study reveals a significant upward trend in marketization in China in recent years, with a concomitant decrease in energy poverty. Here, the causal (and negative) effects of marketization on energy poverty are identified. Second, the mechanism analysis shows that this effect operates through (i) improvements in the quantity of energy supply (rather than energy supply efficiency), (ii) the accumulation of human capital that promotes the use of clean energy, and (iii) an increase in people’s income. This study makes three key contributions. First, it empirically analyzes the impact of marketization on energy poverty from a macro-perspective. Second, it systematically discusses the pathways through which marketization operates. Third, drawing on several theories, it provides a deeper understanding of the theoretical connection between marketization and energy poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinjie Shi & Pei Zeng & Liu Cui & Xuwen Gao & Tongwei Qiu & Qiang Jiang & Linlin Fu, 2025. "Assessing the impact of marketization on energy poverty," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 9257-9286, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s10668-023-04282-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-04282-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-023-04282-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-023-04282-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yao, Yao & Ivanovski, Kris & Inekwe, John & Smyth, Russell, 2019. "Human capital and energy consumption: Evidence from OECD countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. repec:wly:soecon:v:81:1:y:2014:p:232-246 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Sen, Amartya, 1983. "Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198284635, Decembrie.
    4. Shi, Xinjie & Cui, Liu & Huang, Zuhui & Zeng, Pei & Qiu, Tongwei & Fu, Linlin & Jiang, Qiang, 2023. "Impact of internal migration on household energy poverty: Empirical evidence from rural China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    5. Wang, Ying & Wang, Yong & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2023. "How does digital economy affect energy poverty? Analysis from the global perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    6. D'Adamo, Idiano & Mammetti, Marco & Ottaviani, Dario & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2023. "Photovoltaic systems and sustainable communities: New social models for ecological transition. The impact of incentive policies in profitability analyses," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 1291-1304.
    7. Tom Kompas & Tuong Nhu Che & Hoa Thi Minh Nguyen & Ha Quang Nguyen, 2012. "Productivity, Net Returns, and Efficiency: Land and Market Reform in Vietnamese Rice Production," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(3), pages 478-495.
    8. 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.
    9. Kaja Primc & Renata Slabe‐Erker & Boris Majcen, 2019. "Energy poverty: A macrolevel perspective," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(5), pages 982-989, September.
    10. Pan, Lei & Biru, Ashenafi & Lettu, Sandra, 2021. "Energy poverty and public health: Global evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    11. Andreas Bergh & Therese Nilsson, 2014. "When More Poor Means Less Poverty: On Income Inequality and Purchasing Power," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(1), pages 232-246, July.
    12. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Su, Thanh Dinh, 2022. "The influences of government spending on energy poverty: Evidence from developing countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    13. Sachs, J.D. & Woo, W.T., 1994. "Structural Factors in the Economic Reforms of China, Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," Papers 94-01, California Davis - Institute of Governmental Affairs.
    14. Zhao, Jun & Jiang, Qingzhe & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2021. "Assessing energy poverty and its effect on CO2 emissions: The case of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    15. Saunders, R.W. & Gross, R.J.K. & Wade, J., 2012. "Can premium tariffs for micro-generation and small scale renewable heat help the fuel poor, and if so, how? Case studies of innovative finance for community energy schemes in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 78-88.
    16. Hazan, Moshe & Weiss, David & Zoabi, Hosny, 2023. "Highly educated women are no longer childless: The role of marketization," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    17. Oum, Sothea, 2019. "Energy poverty in the Lao PDR and its impacts on education and health," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 247-253.
    18. Andreas Bergh & Therese Nilsson, 2014. "When More Poor Means Less Poverty: On Income Inequality and Purchasing Power," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 232-246, July.
    19. Shettima, Abdulkadir & Elheddad, Mohammed & Bassim, Mohga & Alfar, Abdelrahman J.K., 2023. "The impact of conflict on energy poverty: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PA).
    20. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell & Farrell, Lisa, 2020. "Fuel poverty and subjective wellbeing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    21. Lyu, Yanwei & Wu, You & Zhang, Jinning, 2023. "How industrial structure distortion affects energy poverty? Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    22. Abre-Rehmat Qurat-ul-Ann & Faisal Mehmood Mirza, 2021. "Multidimensional Energy Poverty in Pakistan: Empirical Evidence from Household Level Micro Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 211-258, May.
    23. Bienvenido-Huertas, David, 2021. "Do unemployment benefits and economic aids to pay electricity bills remove the energy poverty risk of Spanish family units during lockdown? A study of COVID-19-induced lockdown," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    24. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Jiang, Yong & Narayan, Seema & Ma, Chao-Qun & Yang, Xiao-Guang, 2022. "Marketisation and rural energy poverty: Evidence from provincial panel data in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    25. Zou, Ran & Yang, Jun & Feng, Chao, 2023. "Does informatization alleviate energy poverty? A global perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    26. Li, Renyu & Ma, Zhongxin & Chen, Xirong, 2020. "Historical market genes, marketization and economic growth in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 327-333.
    27. Meng Yan & Chaoxian Wang & Weidong Zhang, 2023. "Nonlinear impacts of information and communications technology investment on industrial structure upgrading: the role of marketization," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 336-342, February.
    28. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chih-Wei & Ho, Shan-Ju & Wu, Ting-Pin, 2021. "The impact of natural disaster on energy consumption: International evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    29. Abre-Rehmat Qurat-ul-Ann & Faisal Mehmood Mirza, 2021. "Determinants of multidimensional energy poverty in Pakistan: a household level analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 12366-12410, August.
    30. Dagher, Leila & Jamali, Ibrahim & Abi Younes, Oussama, 2023. "Extreme energy poverty: The aftermath of Lebanon’s economic collapse," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    31. Wei, Xiahai & Wei, Qingfang & Yang, Lisha, 2023. "Induced green innovation of suppliers: The “green power” from major customers," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    32. Ahmed Mohamed Habib & Nahia Mourad, 2022. "Analyzing the Efficiency of Working Capital Management: a New Approach Based on DEA-Malmquist Technology," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 1-20, September.
    33. Ming Lu & Shiqing Jiang, 2008. "Labor Market Reform, Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 16(6), pages 63-80, November.
    34. Wang, Wei & Xiao, Weiwei & Bai, Caiquan, 2022. "Can renewable energy technology innovation alleviate energy poverty? Perspective from the marketization level," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    35. Cheng, Shulei & Wei, Tianyu & Wang, Feiran & Zhuang, Lu, 2023. "Does financial market participation eradicate household energy poverty?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    36. Yin, Zhichao & Wang, Rui & Wu, Xi, 2023. "Financial inclusion, natural disasters and energy poverty: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    37. Lin, Boqiang & Wang, Yao, 2020. "Does energy poverty really exist in China? From the perspective of residential electricity consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    38. Henry, Candise L. & Baker, Justin S. & Shaw, Brooke K. & Kondash, Andrew J. & Leiva, Benjamín & Castellanos, Edwin & Wade, Christopher M. & Lord, Benjamin & Van Houtven, George & Redmon, Jennifer Hopo, 2021. "How will renewable energy development goals affect energy poverty in Guatemala?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    39. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Nasir, Muhammad Ali, 2021. "An inquiry into the nexus between energy poverty and income inequality in the light of global evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    40. Kangoh Lee, 2017. "Norms and monetary fines as deterrents, and distributive effects," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 121(1), pages 1-27, May.
    41. Felipe Barroco Fontes Cunha & Maria Cândida Arrais de Miranda Mousinho & Luciana Carvalho & Fábio Fernandes & Celso Castro & Marcelo Santana Silva & Ednildo Andrade Torres, 2021. "Renewable energy planning policy for the reduction of poverty in Brazil: lessons from Juazeiro," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 9792-9810, July.
    42. Pereira, Diogo Santos & Marques, António Cardoso, 2023. "Are dynamic tariffs effective in reducing energy poverty? Empirical evidence from US households," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    43. Wang, Zilong & Wang, Xinbin, 2022. "Research on the impact of green finance on energy efficiency in different regions of China based on the DEA-Tobit model," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    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. Liang, Yinhe & Liu, Xi & Yu, Sitian, 2025. "Education and energy poverty: Evidence from China's compulsory education law," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    2. Ding, Tao & Li, Hao & Liu, Li & Feng, Kui, 2024. "An inquiry into the nexus between artificial intelligence and energy poverty in the light of global evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Lee, Chi-Chuan & Li, Mingyue & Li, Xinghao & Song, Hepeng, 2025. "More green digital finance with less energy poverty? The key role of climate risk," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Shahzad, Umer & Gupta, Mansi & Sharma, Gagan Deep & Rao, Amar & Chopra, Ritika, 2022. "Resolving energy poverty for social change: Research directions and agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    5. Zahonogo, Windbeneti Arnaud, 2025. "Do tariff reductions alleviate energy poverty? Evidence for Sub-Saharan African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    6. Wei, Tie & Pan, Huaihong & Duan, Zhicheng & Xie, Pin, 2024. "New energy technology innovation and energy poverty alleviation in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    7. Siyou Xia & Yu Yang & Xiaoying Qian & Xin Xu, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Interaction and Socioeconomic Determinants of Rural Energy Poverty in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Jiang, Yong & Narayan, Seema & Ma, Chao-Qun & Yang, Xiao-Guang, 2022. "Marketisation and rural energy poverty: Evidence from provincial panel data in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    9. Wang, Xiong & Yang, Wanping & Ren, Xiaohang & Lu, Zudi, 2023. "Can financial inclusion affect energy poverty in China? Evidence from a spatial econometric analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 255-269.
    10. Ngounou, Borice Augustin & Wang, Mingsen & Zhu, Delong, 2025. "Does energy poverty undermine health spending in Africa? A comparative analysis of public and private healthcare spending," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    11. Fu Wang & Hong Geng & Donglan Zha & Chaoqun Zhang, 2023. "Multidimensional Energy Poverty in China: Measurement and Spatio-Temporal Disparities Characteristics," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 45-78, August.
    12. Ye Fan & Tim Döring & Shouhao Li & Xin Zhang & Ming Fang & Yongda Yu, 2024. "Energy poverty and public health vulnerability: A multi‐country analysis," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 5161-5180, October.
    13. Li, Jinkai & Gao, Ming & Luo, Erga & Wang, Jingyi & Zhang, Xuebiao, 2023. "Does rural energy poverty alleviation really reduce agricultural carbon emissions? The case of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    14. Zhao, Congyu & Zhai, Xuan & Liu, Zhengguang & Song, Chenchen, 2025. "Enlarging or narrowing? Exploring the impact of energy poverty on carbon inequality in China," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    15. Guo, Qing & You, Wenlan, 2024. "How can the digital economy alleviate multidimensional energy poverty? —Empirical evidence of 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong Province," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    16. Yang, Xiaoyu & Gao, Yuan & Paavo, Pelkonen & Qu, Mei, 2025. "Digital “push and pull”: Mechanisms of rural energy poverty alleviation in China's rural areas," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    17. Cheng, Zhiming & Guo, Liwen & Smyth, Russell & Tani, Massimiliano, 2022. "Childhood adversity and energy poverty," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    18. Yin, Zhichao & Wang, Rui & Wu, Xi, 2023. "Financial inclusion, natural disasters and energy poverty: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    19. Zhao, Congyu & Dong, Kangyin & Jiang, Hong-Dian & Wang, Kun & Dong, Xiucheng, 2023. "How does energy poverty eradication realize the path to carbon unlocking? The case of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    20. Xuefeng Li & Han Yang & Jin Jia, 2022. "Impact of energy poverty on cognitive and mental health among middle-aged and older adults in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.

    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:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s10668-023-04282-x. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.