Haze pollution, new-type urbanization and regional total factor productivity growth: based on a panel dataset involving all 31 provinces within the territory of China

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of regional total factor productivity (TFP) growth and explores how haze pollution and different levels of new-type urbanization affect China’s economic growth. Design/methodology/approach This paper constructs an index for evaluating the TFP growth of China’s 31 provinces by integrating slack-based measures and the Global Malmquist (GM) productivity index. Meanwhile, the panel threshold estimation method is used to examine the complex relationships among haze pollution, new-type urbanization and TFP growth. Findings The results reflect conspicuous spatiotemporal heterogeneity in TFP growth in China. Interestingly, the influence of haze pollution on TFP growth is limited by the “critical mass” of new-type urbanization in China. When new-type urbanization does not cross the first threshold, haze pollution has a negative but non-significant effect on TFP growth. When new-type urbanization crosses the first threshold but not the second, haze pollution has a significant positive impact on TFP growth. When new-type urbanization crosses the second threshold, haze pollution significantly and positively affects TFP growth with the strongest positive effect. Originality/value This study innovates by combining haze pollution and TFP growth and proposing an integrated framework from the perspective of new-type urbanization, providing insight into how different degrees of new-type urbanization impact the mechanism between haze pollution and TFP growth. Using panel data in China and emphasizing green development, a sustainable economy and new-type urbanization, this study contributes to the current studies on haze pollution and economic development based on developed countries.

Spatial-Temporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of Urban Green and Smart Development Level in China: Evidence from 232 Prefecture-Level Cities

“…Furtherly, with the establishment of pollution emission reduction targets during the 11th and 12th Five-Year plans of China, the urban GSDL tended to be promoted stably, thus the negative impact of industrial development has been offset to some extent. The urban GSDL began to accelerate comparatively faster since 2014, which could be mainly attributed to the reinforcement of environmental policies, energy conservation, emission reduction, and the combination of environmental factors in local assessment after the year 2013 [ 50 ]. In addition, due to the implementation of low-carbon pilot cities and smart pilot cities projects from 2010 and 2012, the industrial structure was further optimized and upgraded, the efficiency of urban governance was promoted, and the incentives from technological innovation were fully released, which provided a solid foundation to the enhancement of urban GSDL.…”

Asymmetric pass through of oil price to Chinese economic growth: new evidence from industrial sectors

“…The government can encourage their production by tax incentives, broadening access to financing, and increasing investment in technology innovation. Notably, although B06 and B07 grow after oil prices rise, energy consumption with heavy pollution is increasingly limited, while clean energy is increasingly popular due to prominent environmental issues (Song et al , 2013; Zhang et al , 2021). Thus, these sectors should focus much on technological innovation and some new profit growth points to improve the ability against the risk of volatile oil prices.…”

Economic growth, industrial structure upgrading and environmental pollution: evidence from China

“…, 2018; Yang et al. , 2020), human capital level ( HCL ) (Meng and Zhang, 2021; Shi, 2022), FDI (Zhang et al. , 2021) and energy cost ( EC ) (Tian et al.…”

“…, 2012; Ma and Zhang, 2014; Wang and Huang, 2015) or even a more complex M-shaped curve oscillation relationship (Ye and Zheng, 2022). The reason for the different curves may be that the relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution is different due to different regional characteristics, development stages, measurement methods and selection of pollutant indicators (Liu and Zhang, 2014; Chen, 2015; Zhang et al. , 2021), and the mutual connection and interaction of regional economic activities will affect environmental pollution to a certain extent.…”

“…To achieve the goal of sustainable development, as the world's largest manufacturing nation and largest energy consumer, global warming caused by the use of fossil fuels threatens the environment (Williams et al, 2020), China must abandon the extensive economic growth model at the cost of ecological environment and shift to an innovationdriven intensive economic growth model (Zhang et al, 2021). At present, the dependence of economic growth on resources and environment still exist larger inertia.…”