Has Technological Progress Contributed to the Bias of Green Output in China’s Marine Economy?

Abstract

At present, the destruction of the marine ecological environment and the imbalance of economic structure have put forward urgent requirements for the green development of the marine economy. Based on the input and output data of China’s coastal provinces from 2006 to 2018, the RDM (range directional model) direction distance function was used to measure the output bias technology progress (OBTC) index of each region, and its influence on China’s marine economy green total factor productivity (GTFP) was judged accordingly. Furthermore, the rationality of the current OBTC index was studied. The results show that there is obvious output-biased technological progress in China’s marine economy, and it has led to the improvement of the GTFP. Although most coastal areas still tend to pursue the improvement of the total output value of the marine economy at the expense of environmental damage, the green bias of China’s marine economy has improved significantly since 2015, driven by relevant marine environmental protection policies. From the perspective of different areas, the imbalance of regional development in the process of China’s marine economic development is significant. The green bias of the marine economy is highest in the East China Sea area and lowest in the Bohai rim area. However, the coordination between the development of the green marine economy and environmental protection in the South China Sea area needs to be improved.

An Evaluation and Difference Analysis of the High-Quality Development of China’s Marine Economy

“…Green is a support for the harmonious coexistence of humans and the ocean, and it is also an important embodiment of sustainability. The rapid growth of the ocean economy has damaged the marine ecosystem far beyond the ecosystem's ability to repair itself, and the resource and environmental costs brought about have reduced the efficiency of economic development [42]. The ocean economy plays an important role in national economic growth, and sustainable development is the future development trend of the marine economy.…”

How Will the Relationship between Technological Innovation and Green Total Factor Productivity Change under the Influence of Service-Oriented Upgrading of Industrial Structure?

“…Most scholars believe that technological innovation can lead to green technological progress and improve production efficiency, which is conducive to improving GTFP and achieving sustainable economic development [4][5][6]. In addition, technological innovation facilitates the formation of new markets, which can improve energy distribution efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions, making it an important driver of the green economy [7][8][9]. Nevertheless, some scholars have found that technological innovation has little or even a negligible impact on the growth of GTFP [10].…”

Marine Economic Development and Conservation

“…Therefore, the main goal of this Special Issue was to collate studies investigating the following: (1) high-quality development and pollution, as in the paper by Jianyue Ji et al [2,3];…”