IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-05369038.html

Global and Local Technological Changes with Environmental Factors: Analysis of the Agricultural Sector in the Belt and Road Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Zhiyang Shen

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IÉSEG School Of Management [Puteaux])

  • Yiping Yang

    (Peking University [Beijing])

  • Kristiaan Kerstens

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Haiyan Deng

    (BIT - Beijing Institute of Technology)

Abstract

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development necessitates the expansion of green agriculture, which entails the adoption of low-carbon technologies. This study expands the understanding of technological progress by incorporating the consideration of undesirable outputs within the by-production model framework. Convex and nonconvex models are applied to calculate the distance function, from which the Luenberger productivity indicator is obtained and decomposed into economic and environmental efficiencies. Then, this study assesses the contribution of global and local innovation forces to technological progress, taking environmental factors into account. Additionally, it examines the beta-convergence of productivity and identifies some countries as innovators. Analyzing the technological changes in the agricultural sector across 53 Belt and Road nations, the findings indicate advancements in green productivity, efficiency changes, and technological progress, with technological progress in the environmental dimension contributing the most to efficiency improvement. Moreover, 14 out of 53 sample countries experience both global and local technological progress, with global and local innovation forces contributing equally. However, agricultural green development in these countries does not converge. Therefore, the findings of this study suggest that the Belt and Road countries should prioritize environmental technological innovation and agricultural cooperation to foster sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhiyang Shen & Yiping Yang & Kristiaan Kerstens & Haiyan Deng, 2025. "Global and Local Technological Changes with Environmental Factors: Analysis of the Agricultural Sector in the Belt and Road Countries," Post-Print hal-05369038, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05369038
    DOI: 10.1007/s10666-025-10022-4
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05369038v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-05369038v1/document
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10666-025-10022-4?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Vanden Eeckaut, Philippe, 1999. "Estimating returns to scale using non-parametric deterministic technologies: A new method based on goodness-of-fit," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 206-214, February.
    2. Tone, Kaoru & Sahoo, Biresh K., 2003. "Scale, indivisibilities and production function in data envelopment analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 165-192, May.
    3. Decio Coviello & Andrea Ichino & Nicola Persico, 2014. "Time Allocation and Task Juggling," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 609-623, February.
    4. Kyle Emerick & Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet & Manzoor H. Dar, 2016. "Technological Innovations, Downside Risk, and the Modernization of Agriculture," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(6), pages 1537-1561, June.
    5. Yuan, Qianqian & Baležentis, Tomas & Shen, Zhiyang & Streimikiene, Dalia, 2021. "Economic and environmental performance of the belt and road countries under convex and nonconvex production technologies," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Carlos Barros & Hidemichi Fujii & Shunsuke Managi, 2015. "How scale and ownership are related to financial performance? A productivity analysis of the Chinese banking sector," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 4(1), pages 1-14, December.
    7. De Borger, Bruno & Kerstens, Kristiaan, 1996. "Cost efficiency of Belgian local governments: A comparative analysis of FDH, DEA, and econometric approaches," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 145-170, April.
    8. Rolf Färe & Shawna Grosskopf & Carl A Pasurka, Jr., 2001. "Accounting for Air Pollution Emissions in Measures of State Manufacturing Productivity Growth," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 381-409, August.
    9. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Are Nonconvexities Important for Understanding Growth?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 97-103, May.
    10. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    11. Cesaroni, Giovanni & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2017. "Global and local scale characteristics in convex and nonconvex nonparametric technologies: A first empirical exploration," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 259(2), pages 576-586.
    12. repec:bla:econom:v:39:y:1972:i:154:p:160-76 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Balaguer-Coll, Maria Teresa & Prior, Diego & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2007. "On the determinants of local government performance: A two-stage nonparametric approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 425-451, February.
    14. Kristiaan Kerstens & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2021. "Cost functions are nonconvex in the outputs when the technology is nonconvex: convexification is not harmless," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 305(1), pages 81-106, October.
    15. Fare, Rolf & Shawna Grosskopf & Mary Norris & Zhongyang Zhang, 1994. "Productivity Growth, Technical Progress, and Efficiency Change in Industrialized Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 66-83, March.
    16. Tim Coelli & Ludwig Lauwers & Guido Huylenbroeck, 2007. "Environmental efficiency measurement and the materials balance condition," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 3-12, October.
    17. Krautkraemer, Jeffrey A., 1994. "Population growth, soil fertility, and agricultural intensification," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 403-428, August.
    18. Robert G. Chambers, 2002. "Exact nonradial input, output, and productivity measurement," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 20(4), pages 751-765.
    19. Murty, Sushama & Robert Russell, R. & Levkoff, Steven B., 2012. "On modeling pollution-generating technologies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 117-135.
    20. Chambers, Robert G. & Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna, 1996. "Productivity Growth in APEC Countries," Working Papers 197843, University of Maryland, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    21. Frederic Ang & Kristiaan Kerstens & Jafar Sadeghi, 2023. "Energy productivity and greenhouse gas emission intensity in Dutch dairy farms: A Hicks–Moorsteen by‐production approach under non‐convexity and convexity with equivalence results," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 492-509, June.
    22. Beltrán-Esteve, Mercedes & Picazo-Tadeo, Andrés J., 2017. "Assessing environmental performance in the European Union: Eco-innovation versus catching-up," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 240-252.
    23. Hidemichi Fujii & Kazuma Edamura & Koichi Sumikura & Yoko Furusawa & Naomi Fukuzawa & Shunsuke Managi, 2015. "How enterprise strategies are related to innovation and productivity change: an empirical study of Japanese manufacturing firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 248-262, April.
    24. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Noh, Dong-Woon & Weber, William, 2005. "Characteristics of a polluting technology: theory and practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 469-492, June.
    25. Adam Copeland & George Hall, 2011. "The response of prices, sales, and output to temporary changes in demand," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 232-269, March.
    26. Wang, Ke & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2016. "Sources of energy productivity change in China during 1997–2012: A decomposition analysis based on the Luenberger productivity indicator," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 50-59.
    27. Sushama Murty, 2015. "On the properties of an emission-generating technology and its parametric representation," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 60(2), pages 243-282, October.
    28. Kwansoo Kim & Jean-Paul Chavas & Bradford Barham & Jeremy Foltz, 2012. "Specialization, diversification, and productivity: a panel data analysis of rice farms in Korea," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 43(6), pages 687-700, November.
    29. Walter Briec & Kristiaan Kerstens & Philippe Venden Eeckaut, 2004. "Non-convex Technologies and Cost Functions: Definitions, Duality and Nonparametric Tests of Convexity," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 81(2), pages 155-192, February.
    30. K. Kerstens & S. Managi, 2012. "Total Factor Productivity Growth and Convergence in the Petroleum Industry: Empirical Analysis Testing for Convexity," Post-Print hal-00720616, HAL.
    31. Paola A. Deligios & Gianluca Carboni & Roberta Farci & Stefania Solinas & Luigi Ledda, 2019. "The Influence of Herbicide Underdosage on the Composition and Diversity of Weeds in Oilseed Rape ( Brassica napus L. var. oleifera D.C.) Mediterranean Fields," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, March.
    32. Atkinson, Anthony B & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1969. "A New View of Technological Change," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 79(315), pages 573-578, September.
    33. Marcel Timmer & Bart Los, 2005. "Localized Innovation and Productivity Growth in Asia: An Intertemporal DEA Approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 47-64, January.
    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. Kristiaan Kerstens & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2021. "Cost functions are nonconvex in the outputs when the technology is nonconvex: convexification is not harmless," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 305(1), pages 81-106, October.
    2. Walter Briec & Kristiaan Kerstens & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2022. "Nonconvexity in Production and Cost Functions: An Exploratory and Selective Review," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 18, pages 721-754, Springer.
    3. Kristiaan Kerstens & Ignace Van de Woestyne, 2018. "Enumeration algorithms for FDH directional distance functions under different returns to scale assumptions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 271(2), pages 1067-1078, December.
    4. Haiyan Deng & Ge Bai & Kristiaan Kerstens & Zhiyang Shen, 2023. "Comparing green productivity under convex and nonconvex technologies: Which is a robust approach consistent with energy structure?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(8), pages 4377-4394, December.
    5. Finn R. Førsund, 2018. "Multi-equation modelling of desirable and undesirable outputs satisfying the materials balance," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 67-99, February.
    6. Mahmood Mehdiloo & Jafar Sadeghi & Kristiaan Kerstens, 2024. "Top Down Axiomatic Modeling of Metatechnologies and Evaluating Directional Economic Efficiency," Working Papers 2024-EQM-03, IESEG School of Management.
    7. J. Vakili & R. Sadighi Dizaji, 2021. "The closest strong efficient targets in the FDH technology: an enumeration method," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 91-105, April.
    8. Pham, Manh D. & Zelenyuk, Valentin, 2019. "Weak disposability in nonparametric production analysis: A new taxonomy of reference technology sets," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(1), pages 186-198.
    9. Haleh Delnava & Kristiaan Kerstens & Timo Kuosmanen & Zhiyang Shen, 2024. "Semi-parametric Estimation of Convex and Nonconvex By-Production Technologies," Working Papers 2024-EQM-02, IESEG School of Management.
    10. Frederic Ang & Pieter Jan Kerstens, 2023. "Robust nonparametric analysis of dynamic profits, prices and productivity: An application to French meat-processing firms," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 50(2), pages 771-809.
    11. Cesaroni, Giovanni & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2017. "Global and local scale characteristics in convex and nonconvex nonparametric technologies: A first empirical exploration," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 259(2), pages 576-586.
    12. Zhou, Wenzhuo & Shen, Zhiyang & Vardanyan, Michael & Song, Malin, 2025. "Assessing energy transition using exponential production technology under different convexity assumptions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    13. Grammatoula Papaioannou & Victor V. Podinovski, 2025. "Free disposal hull models of multicomponent technologies," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 351(2), pages 1559-1587, August.
    14. Frederic Ang & Kristiaan Kerstens & Jafar Sadeghi, 2023. "Energy productivity and greenhouse gas emission intensity in Dutch dairy farms: A Hicks–Moorsteen by‐production approach under non‐convexity and convexity with equivalence results," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 492-509, June.
    15. Chen, Xiaoqing & Kerstens, Kristiaan & Tsionas, Mike, 2024. "Does productivity change at all in Swedish district courts? Empirical analysis focusing on horizontal mergers," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    16. Stefano NASINI & Rabia NESSAH, 2021. "Endogenous Learning in Multi-Sector Economies," Working Papers 2021-EQM-08, IESEG School of Management, revised Oct 2023.
    17. Tomas Balezentis & Kristiaan Kerstens & Zhiyang Shen, 2022. "Economic and Environmental Decomposition of Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen Total Factor Productivity Indicator: Empirical Analysis of Chinese Textile Firms With a Focus on Reporting Infeasibilities and Questioning Convexity," Post-Print hal-03833245, HAL.
    18. Ke Wang & Yujiao Xian & Yi-Ming Wei & Zhimin Huang, 2016. "Sources of carbon productivity change: A decomposition and disaggregation analysis based on global Luenberger productivity indicator and endogenous directional distance function," CEEP-BIT Working Papers 91, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEP), Beijing Institute of Technology.
    19. Lan-Bing Li & Cong-Cong Zhang & Jin-Li Hu & Ching-Ren Chiu, 2021. "Disaggregate productivity growth sources of regional industries in China," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1531-1557, March.
    20. Kristiaan Kerstens & Jens J. Krüger & Zhiyang Shen, 2022. "Localized technological change," Chapters, in: Cristiano Antonelli (ed.), Elgar Encyclopedia on the Economics of Knowledge and Innovation, chapter 41, pages 332-340, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    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:hal:journl:hal-05369038. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.