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This study investigates the influence of business strategy on green total factor productivity (GTFP), focusing on the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of organizational legitimacy. Leveraging micro-data from China’s listed industrial enterprises spanning from 2011 to 2021, findings reveal: (1) Prospector strategies exhibit a greater propensity to enhance GTFP compared to defender strategies. (2) Digital transformation partially mediates between business strategy and GTFP. (3) Organizational legitimacy moderates between business strategy and GTFP. Specifically, when a company possesses robust financial standing (pragmatic legitimacy), a better environmental track record (moral legitimacy), and establishment of Environmental Management System certification (cognitive legitimacy), the positive relationship between business strategy and GTFP is strengthened. (4) Further research indicates that business strategy exerts a more pronounced effect on enhancing GTFP for companies with larger scales and weaker political connections, as well as those situated in regions characterized by high fiscal revenue and favorable legal environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the development of carbon finance can promote sustainable economic growth in China through spatial spillover effects. On the basis of a theoretical analysis of this mechanism, this paper takes 30 provincial-level administrative regions in China as the research object and uses a variety of spatial econometric analysis techniques to empirically test them. It assesses sustainable economic development measured by green total factor productivity (GTFP). This study documents a significant and positive impact of province-level carbon finance improvement on sustainable economic growth through improving technological progress and increasing technological market turnover. The economic influence of carbon finance on sustainable economic growth is still positive after considering possible endogeneity concerns. Results reveal heterogeneity and spatial spillover effects of carbon finance on GTFP, notably stronger in eastern regions compared to central and western ones. We find that the technological progress and technological market turnover have significant and positive promotional effects on GTFP with increasing levels of carbon finance. This paper provides policy implications for improving sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government is constantly pursuing a green transformation of its industry under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the same time, the booming digital economy has brought new opportunities and challenges to the Chinese government, and it is relevant to discuss the contribution of the digital economy to China's green development. In this study, we use panel data for 247 cities in China from 2011-2019. The impact of the digital economy on green total factor productivity is examined, and the mechanism of green technological innovation in this process is verified. It has been found that the digital economy can promote GTFP and that green technological innovation has a positive moderating role in this process. We also verify the threshold effect of green technological innovation, and the role of the digital economy can be inflated when green technological innovation reaches the corresponding threshold. Of course, these findings pass a series of robustness tests, and they are plausible. Accordingly, we put forward some policy recommendations to mitigate the possible problems in reality in order to promote green production in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWith new technologies emerging, productivity is increasing, while environmental issues are being addressed. Studies focus on the benefits of technological progress but pay limited attention to potential risks. This paper uses data from 286 Chinese cities to explore the impact of industrial robots on urban green total factor productivity. We find that industrial robots significantly reduces urban green total factor productivity. Mechanism analysis shows the main effect is driven by manufacturing agglomeration and crowding out environmental investment. Urban green total factor productivity decomposition shows that industrial robots block green technical progress and efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis shows that industrial robots significantly impact urban green total factor productivity in developed, highly market-oriented, and industrialized regions. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of industrial robots in urban green development and provide corresponding policy implications for guiding the harmonious development of technology and sustainable urban growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic green transition is the change of economic development mode under environmental constraints; this process will generate huge demand for credit financing. Understanding the connection between credit allocation and environmental performance is crucial for the coordinated development of the economy and environment. Utilizing the Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database, I constructed a city-level green credit index and compiled panel data from 2006 to 2013 for 282 selected cities in China. A spatial model was employed to explore the influence of green credit on the economic green transition. The findings reveal a positive relationship between green credit and economic green transition during the study period. Green credit not only enhances local green total factor productivity but also exerts beneficial impacts on adjacent areas though demonstration effects. Additionally, the reallocation of credit resources and the innovation of clean technologies are identified as key mechanisms through which green credit fosters a greener economy. However, the study also finds that the impact of green credit is moderated by factors such as a high reliance on natural resources, the underdevelopment of market intermediaries, and excessive governmental intervention, which can undermine its effectiveness. Furthermore, the efficacy of green credit exhibits regional heterogeneity; it has a significant positive impact in the eastern regions of China, while its influence appears to be non-significantly positive in the central and western regions. This study enriches the research on the macroeconomic impacts of green credit, offering practical evidence and theoretical support for the implementation of green credit policies by local governments in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of China's carbon emission trading (CET) framework on the green development of the construction sector, a topic that has been underexplored. Utilizing annual data from 107 publicly listed construction companies from 2007 to 2022, we apply green total factor productivity (GTFP) as a metric for green development. Our findings reveal that GTFP increased by 0.36 during this period. Using the Difference-in-Differences (DID) methodology, we account for factors such as market dimensions, ownership structure, financial stability, geographical location, and state financial aid. The interaction term coefficient in our model is 0.0089, significant at the 1% level, indicating that CET implementation has significantly improved GTFP in construction enterprises. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that the CET's impact is more pronounced in large-scale, state-owned, highly indebted enterprises, those located in the eastern region, and those receiving government subsidies, with coefficients of 0.112, 0.0108, 0.0092, 0.0133, and 0.0099, respectively, all significant at the 1% level. These results underscore the importance of unified market development and tailored governance strategies. The study concludes with policy recommendations and calls for further research to explore CET's nuanced impacts across different sectors and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the efficiency of factor allocation in food production is the foundation for accelerating the formation of new quality productivity and achieving an agricultural green transformation. However, there has been no scholarly focus on their mechanisms and the interactions involved. This exploration is an important reference for enhancing the green production capacity of major grain-producing areas. In this study, 13 prefecture-level cities in Heilongjiang Province, China's largest grain production base, were selected as the research samples. A model for identifying factor misallocation and grain green total factor productivity (AGGTFP) was constructed to identify the spatiotemporal differences in factor misallocation and green total factor productivity. A fixed effects model was used to explore the impact of single-factor misallocation and the interaction of dual-factor misallocation with AGGTFP. The results show that from 2004 to 2022, the AGGTFP in 13 prefecture-level cities in Heilongjiang Province has shown a slow growth trend. The inhibitory effects of single-factor misallocation of land, labor, and capital on green total factor productivity are sequentially enhanced. The interaction effects of capital misallocation and labor misallocation and labor misallocation and land misallocation strengthen the inhibitory effects of misallocation on the AGGTFP. Therefore, it is necessary to further promote the optimization of production factors and improve the green production capacity for grain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zones represents a novel endeavor aimed at paving a "bottom-up" pathway for the advancement of green finance and, consequently, holds immense significance in fostering economic growth that is environmentally sustainable. Drawing on data spanning the years 2013–2019 from 278 prefecture-level cities across China, we delve into the influence of the Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot policy on urban Green Total Factor Productivity. We found that: Firstly, the Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot policy has demonstrated a discernible enhancement in Green Total Factor Productivity within the designated pilot regions. Secondly, there is heterogeneity in the promotion effect of this pilot policy on Green Total Factor Productivity. As the geographical advantage and economic development level decrease, this promotional effect gradually diminishes. Thirdly, it is evident that the Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot policy primarily elevates Green Total Factor Productivity in the pilot regions by improving resource allocation efficiency, fostering innovation in green technologies, and facilitating the upgrading of industrial structures. This research not only underscores the efficacy of green finance in the context of economic transition but also provides empirical substantiation for the strategic utilization of pilot zones to propel nationwide initiatives aimed at sustainable green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total factor productivity in the green economy is a major step forward in fostering robust growth in the economy. Urban green total factor productivity (GTFP) may be increased and carbon emissions decreased through the low-carbon transformation of the transportation sector. To analyze how the pilot policy of low-carbon transportation system construction affects urban GTFP, this study builds a DID model and a spatial Durbin model using panel data from 282 Chinese cities between 2006 and 2021. The findings show that low-carbon transportation systems boost urban GTFP. In addition, the mechanism test shows that low-carbon transportation development increases urban GTFP by optimizing urban industrial structure, expediting economic agglomeration, and encouraging technological innovation. Lastly, the geographical correlation test shows that GTFP is geographically associated and that spatial spillover reduces the impact of low-carbon transportation growth on GTFP. The findings affirm the need to vigorously promote low-carbon transportation systems to aid in the achievement of the carbon neutrality target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As conflicts between emissions reductions and economic growth intensify, an increasing number of countries and regions are focusing on green total factor productivity (GTFP). Financial agglomeration (QWS), resource endowment (SE), and innovation-driven (ID) are the main factors that cause regional differences in GTFP. However, few scholars have comprehensively considered the impact of the interaction between SE, ID, and QWS on GTFP. This article uses the Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index to calculate the GTFP of 30 Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2020 and constructs a dynamic panel model to present the first comprehensive study of the interactions between SE, ID, and QWS and their relationship with GTFP. The conclusions are as follows. (1) SE is positively correlated with GTFP, which is different from the "resource curse" theory proposed by existing research. (2) There is a crowding-out effect between SE and ID, and their interaction will restrain the growth of GTFP. (3) QWS promotes ID, and the interaction between the two promotes the growth of GTFP. (4) There is a restraining effect between QWS and SE, and their interaction will hinder the growth of GTFP. (5) The key policy directions to improve China's GTFP are to undertake strategic planning from a comprehensive perspective, including encouraging innovation, guiding financial development reasonably, and avoiding excessive consumption of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the double pressure of economic downturn and climate deterioration, the Chinese government needs to use the "double carbon" policy to drive the green transformation of the manufacturing industry. This article takes A-share manufacturing listed companies as the research object, constructs the enterprise digital economy investment index by text analysis and expert scoring method, and represents the degree of green transformation by enterprise green total factor productivity. At the theoretical level, the impact mechanism of the digital economy empowering green transformation in the manufacturing industry is hypothesized. The relevant hypotheses were tested through econometric empirical evidence, and the econometric model significantly passed the robustness test, proving that the digital economy empowers the development of green transformation in the manufacturing industry significantly. This article reveals that the digital economy promotes the green total factor productivity of enterprises by enhancing their innovation capability, improving the efficiency of production factor flow, and increasing their emission costs, but the factor intensity and the nature of enterprise owners will have different effects on the green transformation of the manufacturing industry enabled by the digital economy. This article explores the internal mechanism of green transformation development in the digital economy-enabled manufacturing industry and provides empirical evidence for enterprises to formulate development strategies and for governments to issue guiding policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-designed environmental regulations are a prerequisite for achieving green economic growth. However, the effectiveness of campaign-style environmental regulation—a widely used environmental management instrument in developing nations or even in some developed nations, on green economic growth remains under-researched and has not reached a consistent conclusion. This paper takes advantage of China's Central Environmental Protection Inspector policy—the strictest and largest campaign-style environmental regulation policy in China's history, as a natural experiment and uses the difference-in-differences method to explore the effect of campaign-style environmental regulation on green economic growth, and further analyze its underlying mechanisms and heterogeneity effects. The panel data covering 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2019 are used. Our results show that Central Environmental Protection Inspector can result in an average of 14.2% increase in green economic growth, and this effect is sustainable for a long time. Mechanism analysis shows that Central Environmental Protection Inspector boosts green economic growth mainly by promoting green innovation and optimizing industrial structure. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect of Central Environmental Protection Inspector on green economic growth is greater in eastern China and underdeveloped cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constructs an economic growth model that includes natural resource endowments to theoretically explore the paradox of “resource gospel” and “resource curse.” Based on the theoretical analysis, the influence of natural resources on green total factor productivity is analyzed empirically through an econometric model using Chinese urban panel data from 2010 to 2019. The theoretical analysis shows that the impact of natural resource endowment on green total factor productivity is indecisive. The empirical results show that natural resource endowments significantly lessen urban green total factor efficiency, and the results remain robust after addressing for endogeneity issues and robustness tests. However, this effect is significantly heterogeneous depending on the city level and science and education level; for example, the “resource curse” effect is more pronounced in non‐central cities and cities with average education and science level. Simultaneously, the mechanism analysis shows that natural resource endowment reduces urban total factor productivity by inhibiting innovation and introducing choices in the technological progress approach. Therefore, the research findings bring empirical evidence to promote reforms in natural resource allocation and provide theoretical support for encouraging green total factor productivity in resource‐based cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As environmental challenges escalate, green development is crucial for sustainability. This study analyzes China's county-level agricultural green total factor productivity using SBM and ML index, introducing a comprehensive index to quantify the impact of different types of environmental regulations on productivity. The findings reveal the following: baseline analysis reveals that comprehensive environmental regulation notably boosts agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP), with regulatory intensity positively linked to productivity growth. Other factors like policy intervention, industrial structure, savings levels, and per capita GDP also favorably impact productivity. All three types of regulations, command, incentive, and voluntary type, substantially enhance AGTFP. The mediating effect test results show that all three types of regulations directly and positively impact AGTFP. Indirect effects vary: command-type regulation's mediating effect through independent R&D is significant, accounting for 39% of the impact. For incentive type, both industry structure upgrading (23.79%) and independent R&D (3.1%) mediate the effect. For voluntary type, technological advancement via independent R&D mediates about 13.0% of the impact. Heterogeneity analysis reveals distinct impacts of different environmental regulations on AGTFP across regions. Command-type regulation is most effective in the west, while in the central region, both command- and incentive-type regulations have similar promotional effects. In the east, incentive- and voluntary-type regulations show stronger impacts. Robustness tests, including endogeneity testing, dependent variable substitution, sample winsorizing, and model substitution, consistently confirm the baseline finding that environmental regulation significantly boosts AGTFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hog insurance and rural environmental protection are complementary to each other. Studying the environmental effects of hog insurance is imperative for safeguarding food safety and promoting the long-term development of the agricultural insurance industry. Informed by the risk management theory and sustainable development theory, this paper constructs a theoretical framework for the impact of policy-supported hog insurance on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of hog farming. Utilizing panel data from China's hog-dominant production areas spanning from 2005 to 2021, the slacks-based measures of directional distance functions (SBM-DDF) model and multiple-time-point difference-in-differences (DID) approach were used to measure GTFP and explore the effects of hog insurance on GTFP and the underlying mechanisms. The findings indicate a substantial enhancement in GTFP due to hog insurance. The conclusion drawn was robust to various tests. The mechanism is that hog insurance fosters GTFP by expanding the breeding scale, adjusting the planting–breeding structure, and promoting technological progress. Furthermore, the environmental effects of hog insurance policy are more pronounced in economically developed regions, with significant effects observed on the GTFP of free-range, small-scale, and medium-scale hog-farming households. This study contributes new evidence to the field of assessing the environmental impact of agricultural insurance policies and provides valuable insights for furthering green transformation and development in the hog insurance-supported breeding industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new engine driving economic development, new digital infrastructure plays a significant role in enhancing green total factor productivity. Based on 2011-2020 panel data covering 30 Chinese provinces, this study empirically investigates the effects and mechanisms of new digital infrastructure on green total factor productivity. The results show that new digital infrastructure can significantly improve regional green total factor productivity, and this conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests and regressions of instrumental variables. Further mechanism research shows that new digital infrastructure indirectly promotes the growth of green total factor productivity by improving capital misallocation and driving technological innovation, while there is no mediating mechanism of labor misallocation. In addition, there is significant heterogeneity in the impact of new digital infrastructure on green total factor productivity. Especially during periods of high government attention, in the eastern regions, and in areas with higher levels of human capital, the positive incentive effect of new digital infrastructure is more significant. This study provides empirical evidence and policy references for promoting and amplifying the green growth effects of new digital infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The impact of digital economy on green total factor productivity in China is investigated. • The evidence on digital economy from a policy perspective is further supplied. • The ordinary least squares model and fixed effects model are used to research simultaneously. • Technological innovation, industrial structure optimization and resource misallocation as the transmission channels are considered in mechanism test. Digital economy has become a major driver of the green transformation of the economy. The "National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone" policy is taken as a quasi-natural experiment. The Difference-in-Differences model is employed to explore the impact of digital economy on green total factor productivity, and the heterogeneity of this impact is further explored. The mechanism test model is applied to investigate its indirect transmission mechanism. It is found that digital economy significantly enhances green total factor productivity. Further, the impact is larger and more significant in the mid-western, non-resource-based, and large cities, whereas it is smaller or insignificant in the eastern, resource-based, and small and medium-sized cities. Results of mechanism analysis show that digital economy enhances green total factor productivity through the transmission channels of technological innovation, industrial structure optimization, and resource misallocation. Policy recommendations are provided on the basis of these results to establish the environment and digital economy that are mutually beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital economy (DE) is emerging as a crucial driver of economic growth and an effective tool for alleviating resource and environmental pressures, thereby evolving into a significant force in facilitating green transformation. This study elaborates on the theoretical mechanism of the impact of DE on green total factor productivity (GTFP), and conducts multidimensional empirical tests using panel data from 284 cities in China. The main findings are as follows: (1) DE exerts significant positive direct, indirect, and spatial spillover effects on GTFP, signifying its growing role as a robust driver of GTFP. Notably, technological innovation emerges as a key mediator of DE’s impact on GTFP. (2) The impact of DE on GTFP exhibits a distinct pattern: initially pronounced, gradually diminishing, and then rebounding as DE progresses. (3) DE tends to exacerbate, rather than alleviate, the development divide and resource curse, especially in underdeveloped and resource-rich cities where its benefits are constrained. (4) Government behavior is pivotal in influencing DE’s impact on GTFP. Supportive policies and strict environmental regulations are critical in harnessing DE’s positive contributions to GTFP. This study lays a scientific foundation for leveraging the “green attributes” of DE and offers insights into bridging the developmental disparities among cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the critical period of strengthening the construction of ecological civilization, the construction of forest cities has become an important measure to promote urban ecosystem restoration and achieve sustainable development. Based on the mechanism of forest city promoting green development, the construction of a national forest city is regarded as a "quasi-natural experiment". Using China's urban panel data from 2005 to 2019, the impact of national forest city construction on urban green total factor productivity was evaluated using Multistage asymptotic double difference. The results show that National Forest Cities with environmental regulation can significantly promote regional green total factor productivity, which is still valid after a series of Robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that forest city construction not only affects territorial spatial planning but also forms a linkage with green technology innovation, mutual promotion and mutual promotion to jointly promote the sustainable development goals. This paper argues that building a national forest city is an important measure to achieve China's sustainable development goals in the new era, but in the process of policy implementation, it is necessary to implement the national forest city selection system according to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the logistics industry's green total factor productivity (LGTFP) is a key source of power to achieve its high-quality development (HQD) in China. Technological innovation (TI) and environmental regulation (ER) policies are vital factors that affect the improvement of LGTFP. Although the impact of ERs or TI on LGTFP has been extensively researched, few studies have examined their combined effect. This study utilizes panel data from 30 Chinese provinces during 2006-2020 to estimate LGTFP using the Epsilon-based measure and global Malmquist-Luenberger index. Moreover, this study employs a dynamic spatial Durbin model to explore the influence of TI on LGTFP and its spatial spillovers, as well as the modulatory effect of ER in the relations between TI and LGTFP. The results show that (1) China's LGTFP displays positive spatial spillovers and is influenced by the preceding period's level. (2) In the short term, an improvement in TI levels had a positive effect on local LGTFP, but negative spillovers on neighboring districts. Nevertheless, in the long run, an improvement in TI levels had a notably negative influence on local LGTFP but positive spillovers on adjacent regions. (3) ER had an "inverted U-shaped" modulatory roles with spatial spillovers on the relations between TI and LGTFP in the long-term. These discoveries offer valuable insights into the coordinated development of TI systems and ER policies, enabling the formation of a policy system that aligns with the logistics industry's HQD in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the systematic GMM and intermediation model, the impact of China's direct investment on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries are examined from the data of 48 countries during the period of 2008-2019. The results show that China's direct investment can significantly contribute to GTFP in BRI countries through the mediating mechanisms of scale, structural and human capital effects. Of these, the main one is the scale effect. In addition, the scale, structural and human capital effects all positively moderate the green driving effect of China's direct investment in BRI countries, while the technology effect weakens the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researches on the Porter hypothesis have paid more attention to the effect of the external constraint force of environmental regulation on green total factor productivity (GTFP), while ignoring the effect of internal force of market competition on GTFP. Using the panel data of Chinese manufacturing industries, this paper measures China's GTFP with the global frontier MML index which is based on the EBM model. The paper then studies the effect of environmental regulation and market competition on GTFP. The combined effect of environmental regulation and market competition on enhancing GTFP is further investigated. The results are as follows: 1) The GTFP of the manufacturing industry has progressed during the study period and the progress of green technology plays a crucial role in promoting GTFP improvement. 2) The environmental regulation and market competition both have an obvious nonlinear effect of U-type on GTFP. Relying solely on the external constraint force of environmental regulation or the internal force of market competition does not promote the improvement of GTFP quickly. 3) As for the combined effect, improving market competition is beneficial to the positive effect of environmental regulation on GTFP. Market competition and environmental regulation show a significant combined positive effect, accelerating the arrival of environmental regulation inflection point. Thus the rapid improvement of GTFP requires the combined effect to be effectively exerted. However, only when the level of environmental regulation is strong or the level of market competition is high can a combined positive effect appear. The conclusion provides China with a meaningful reference for better implementing the policy of environmental regulation and market-oriented reforms to promote green economic transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population migration continues to reshape the spatial pattern of China's population and regional economic development. During this internal migration process, production and consumption patterns often change, ultimately leading to changes in green total factor productivity. This paper, based on the Chinese population census data and 1% sampling survey data from 2005 to 2015, utilizes social network analysis methods to measure the labor mobility network indicators of 284 prefecture-level cities. Further, this paper analyzes the impact and mechanisms of regional network status on green total factor productivity using a panel fixed effects model. We find that as network density increases, the interpersonal connections between regions become closer, and the network exhibits a clear pattern of "concentrated inflows" and "dispersed outflows", with the trend of forming strong alliances becoming increasingly apparent. Regions positioned centrally either in terms of network in-degree or out-degree exhibit higher green total factor productivity. Among these, the labor mobility network plays a crucial role in enhancing green total factor productivity through the channel of technology diffusion effects, which improve investment efficiency via knowledge exchange and material capital accumulation. The promotive effect of labor network status on green total factor productivity is more pronounced in the eastern regions, where talent quality is higher, and in areas with fewer restrictions from the household registration system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: China is exploring methods to achieve economically intensive, green, and high-quality development. Strengthening urban green total-factor production is important for achieving high-quality economic development. Whether the construction of e-commerce demonstration zones (EDZ) can provide new opportunities for high-quality urban development under the dual constraints of energy and environment is a question worth studying. Methods: In order to verify the relationship this study using panel data from 290 prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2020. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to assess the level of high-quality urban development under resource and environmental constraints. The multi-phase difference-difference method (DID) was used to analyze how the e-commerce model city creation policies significantly promoted high-quality urban economic development. Results and Discussion: This study shows that the e-commerce demonstration zone effectively promotes the high-quality development of the city. Heterogeneity tests show that the impact of electric EDZs on high-quality development can be influenced by city size and geographic location (e.g., east coast and mid-west). Based on these conclusions, this study puts forward some suggestions to enhance the attractiveness of small- and medium-sized cities, non-resource-based cities, and western cities by formulating preferential policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of renewable energy has become an important measure for countries worldwide to improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and achieve sustainable development. This trend may have implications for green total factor productivity (GTFP), which represents the economic growth efficiency in terms of resource and energy use. However, the current research on the impact of renewable energy development (RED) on GTFP based on China's provincial data is still insufficient, and it has not yet integrated multiple factors such as economic, social, environmental, and technological aspects to jointly analyze potential nonlinear effects. This paper first calculates the GTFP of 30 provinces in China using a global super-efficiency slack-based measure model. Then, a two-way fixed effects model and a panel threshold regression (PTR) model were used to explore the linear and nonlinear effects of RED on GTFP. The results show that: First, RED has a significant positive effect on GTFP, which remains in effect after a sequence of robustness tests including endogenous treatment. For every 1% increase in RED, GTFP increases by 0.025%–0.039%. Second, the contribution of RED to GTFP shows a clear characteristic of diminishing marginal benefits, with the impact coefficient decreasing from 0.058% to 0.022%. Third, the higher the level of economic activity, social conditions, environmental protection, and technological advancement, the greater the favorable impact of RED on GTFP. The range of coefficient changes under the influence of economic- and social-level factors reaches 0.012%–0.143%, while the range of coefficient changes at the technological and environmental levels is only 0.026%–0.057%. Based on the above conclusions, some policy implications related to the development of renewable energy are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing the increasingly stringent constraints of resources and the environment, the green transformation of enterprises is imperative. This study selects A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2014 to 2021 as samples, using the difference-in-differences method to examine the impact of the environmental protection tax reform (EPTR) on the green transformation of enterprises. The results indicate that the EPTR can promote the green transformation of enterprises, achieving this through three channels: raising the cost of pollution, strengthening the rigidity of law enforcement, and breaking the collusion between the government and enterprises. Notably, this promotional effect is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises, companies in the eastern and western regions, firms with low financing constraints, and those with high media attention. Further analysis shows that the EPTR has a positive impact on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of enterprises, which implies that enterprises are not only proactively pushing for a green transformation at the strategic level but also taking practical actions. This study responds to the problem of the greening of tax system to promote the green development of enterprises from two aspects of enterprise strategic implementation and productivity and explores the impact mechanism from the perspective of institutional logic. It enriches the research on the effectiveness of the EPTR at the micro-level and broadens the research perspective on the impact mechanisms of environmental regulation. The findings of this study provide references for further optimising relevant policies and regulations and also offer insights for other countries and regions seeking sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical industry is not only a crucial sector of national economy, but also a significant consumer of water resources and a major initiator of water pollution. The sustainable development of this sector is intricately linked to the regional water ecological carrying capacity (WECC). Based on SBM-DEA and Global Moran's I, the green total factor productivity (GTFP) and spatial correlation characteristics of the chemical industry in 13 cities within China's chemical agglomeration region in Jiangsu Province were estimated from 2015 to 2019. By combining the WECC results, the Tobit model was employed to reveal the driving factors of WECC in optimizing GTFP. The results indicated that the regional WECC in southern Jiangsu was increasing compared with that in northern Jiangsu, which promoted the growth of GTFP. WECC has been a positive radiation-driven effect since 2017, and the optimization of the various subsystems of WECC has had a different impact on GTFP. For the sustainable development of Jiangsu's chemical industry, effective water resource policies should be formulated by the government, while enterprises need to pursue sustained structural adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, this study uses the coupling coordination degree model (CCDM), spatial autocorrelation analysis, and the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model to quantitatively examine the dynamic coordination and interactive response of green finance (GF) and green total factor productivity (GTFP). The results show that the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between GF and GTFP during the study period shows an overall increasing trend and significant regional differentiation and remains at the medium level, indicating large room for improvement. The CCDs of provinces fluctuate between the low and high types. The distribution gradually shifts from a "high in the south and low in the north" pattern to a "high in the east and low in the west" configuration. The spatial difference of coupling development continues to expand and presents a significant spatial positive correlation. In addition, GF and GTFP in China exhibit significant self-reinforcing characteristics, but the reinforcing effect gradually decreases. There is only a unidirectional interaction relationship between GF and GTFP, which is GF actively fosters the advancement of GTFP, while the influence of GTFP on GF appears less pronounced. This research provides comprehensive insights into the dynamic interaction between GF and GTFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the rapid development of digital economy and the urgency of green development, more studies focus on the relationship between digital economy and green development. However, the existing research focuses on the impact of digital economy on green total factor productivity, ignoring digital technology, which is a key technology for improving efficiency to achieve green development. Exploring the impact of digital technologies on green total factor productivity helps to understand the impact of digital economic development on green development from an internal perspective of the digital economy. This paper uses an SBM-GML index to measure regional green total factor productivity based on provincial level data and innovatively constructs digital technology indicators based on micro-level ICT patent data in China. Fixed-effects model is used to study the impact of digital technology on green total factor productivity and moderating model is used to examine the moderating effect of capital accumulation. The results indicate that: (1) At the national level, digital technology is conducive to the improvement of green total factor productivity, and the result passes the robustness test. From a dynamic long-term impact perspective, the effect of digital technology development on green total factor productivity is showing an increasing trend. (2) Digital technology's effect on green total factor productivity is heterogenous. The results of the subregional heterogeneity analysis indicate that the effect is greater in the coastal regions and southern regions. The results of the heterogeneity analysis of the external environment indicate that the effect is greater in regions with smaller economies, regions with lower external economic dependence, and regions with lower government fiscal intervention. (3) Capital accumulation has moderating effect in the process of digital technology affecting green total factor productivity which will inhibit the improvement of digital technology development on green total factor productivity. Based on the conclusions, to better utilize the role of digital technology in promoting green development, it is necessary for the government to build a digital technology exchange platform, promote the balanced development of digital technology, and expand domestic demand to reduce the dependence on capital accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effectively improving the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of high-carbon enterprises is the key to adhering to green development and achieving the dual-carbon goal. This study examines the relationship between fintech and enterprises' GTFP based on an SBM-undesirable model with data from eight high-carbon industries in China from 2006 to 2020, and addresses the endogeneity issue with instrumental variables and propensity matching scores. It has been discovered that for every 1% increase in the level of fintech development in a city, there will be a 1.08% increase in the GTFP of local high-carbon enterprises; fintech boosts GTFP by reducing financing constraints and promoting green technological advances to promote the green transformation of high-carbon enterprises across the board; and the role of fintech in boosting GTFP is more pronounced in the midwestern regions, non-resource cities, cities with weaker environmental regulations, and non-state-owned enterprises. Overall, the development of fintech contributes to the environment and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of population agglomeration on urban economic development quality in various cities of China. The results show that population agglomeration significantly contributes to the improvement of urban green total factor productivity by increasing population diversification, promoting knowledge spillovers, and reducing pollution emission intensity. Moreover, we find that population agglomeration in type II big cities and type I large cities significantly improves green total factor productivity, while the impact of population agglomeration in metropolises and mega-cities on green total factor productivity is not significant. On the one hand, type II big cities and type I large cities are in the period of rising economic development, the population has not yet reached saturation, and there is still a large demographic dividend space. On the other hand, excessive population agglomeration also brings about "urban diseases" such as population congestion and traffic congestion, especially in the metropolises and mega-cities. Finally, using data on producer services and its sub-sectors, we identify a more significant driving effect of high-end talent agglomeration on green total factor productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental influence on the economy can be enhanced by consumption upgrading, transforming the key driver of economic development from supply to demand. This study constructs a model for consumption upgrading and applies threshold regression based on the susceptible–infectious–recovered (SIR) model, to explore the role of carbon emissions on high-quality economic development. The results reveal that the environmental input characterized by carbon emissions has an inverted U-shaped effect on high-quality economic development. A diminishing marginal rate of substitution of economic output demand to environment demand is observed during consumption upgrading. This study proves that environmental resources can assume both supply and demand roles for economic output and customers, which gradually emerge during consumption upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the construction of smart cities has gradually become an effective means of addressing urban economic and environmental challenges. Based on panel data of 249 Chinese cities from 2005 to 2020, this study uses a super-efficiency epsilon-based measure model and a Malmquist-Luenberger index to calculate the urban green total factor productivity (GTFP). Using the smart city pilot as a quasi-natural experiment, the time-varying difference-in-difference (DID) method is applied to determine the causal effect of smart city pilot on GTFP. Results show that smart city pilot increases urban GTFP in China, and a series of robust analyses have verified the reliability of the results. The heterogeneity analysis results show that the smart city pilot policy has a more significant positive effect on urban GTFP in the eastern and central regions, the high population group, and the high per capita GDP group. The mediating analysis further suggests that smart city pilot positively affects technological innovations and human capital which promotes urban GTFP. These findings are of great significance for smart city construction and coordinating the relationship between urban economic development and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 21st century, the green development impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) has attracted much attention from scholars. Especially, the influence of FDI-coordinated development on green total factor productivity (GTFP) is of great research significance. Using provincial-level panel data in China from 2011 to 2020 with an intermediary effect model and a threshold effect model, this study examines the impact of two-way FDI coordination development on GTFP. The results indicate that: (1) Two-way FDI coordination development significantly improves GTFP growth in China. Compared with the eastern region, the effects in central and western China are stronger. However, the effect in northeastern China is negative. (2) The mechanism test found that two-way FDI coordination development significantly improves GTFP through talent innovation, technological innovation, and institutional innovation. (3) The threshold analysis indicates that the impact on GTFP is stronger when research and development (R&D) intensity and urbanization are low. This study not only provides evidence for evaluating the impact of two-way FDI coordination development, but also provides a reference for promoting domestic green transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the construction of the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone (NBDCPZ), we adopted the difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of big data on green total factor productivity (GTFP), using data from 276 cities in China for the period of 2012 to 2019. We also conducted mediating effects and moderating effects tests to explore whether a factor exists through which, or relying on it, big data influences the GTFP. The result of the baseline regression showed that the construction of the NBDCPZ significantly increased GTFP. After a series of robustness tests, this conclusion remains valid. In addition, we examined the mediating effects of industrial structure and green innovation and found that the construction of the NBDCPZ increased the level of GTFP, mainly by promoting industrial structure upgrading and green innovation activities. We identified the moderating effects of different types of environmental regulation on the relationship between urban digital transformation and GTFP and found that market incentive environmental regulation (MIER) has a significant positive moderating effect on big data increasing GTFP. Conversely, the moderating effects of command and control environmental regulation (CCER) and social participation environmental regulation (SPER) were found to be insignificant. These findings suggest that urban digital transformation, through its contribution to increasing GTFP, is an important pathway to high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data of listed companies in China's iron and steel industry from 2007 to 2020, the article investigates the impact mechanism and the path of action of China's carbon emissions trading pilot on the green total factor productivity of iron and steel enterprises by constructing a multi-period difference-in-difference model difference-in-differences. The study finds that: 1) China's iron and steel enterprises significantly improve their green total factor productivity driven by the carbon trading pilot, and the findings pass the corresponding robustness tests. 2) the mechanism analysis indicates that the carbon trading pilot promotes the green total factor productivity of iron and steel enterprises by forcing the technological progress of enterprises. 3) The heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect is more significant for large iron and steel enterprises with high social responsibility rating and high local government competition intensity, but not for small enterprises with low social responsibility rating and low local government competition intensity. 4) the dynamic effect shows that there is a certain lag in the promotion effect of the carbon emission trading pilot on the green total factor productivity of iron and steel enterprises, but its long-term effect is more obvious. This paper puts forward corresponding suggestions for accelerating the construction of a national unified green and low-carbon market system and actively promoting the deepening of the "dual-carbon" goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of widespread internet access, green development has also entered an era of big data. Using panel data of 282 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2019, this study adopts slacks-based measure (SBM) directional distance function and Global Malmquist-Luenberger (GML) index to calculate the green total factor productivity (GTFP) and its decomposition (i.e. technological progress, scale efficiency, and resource allocation efficiency). On this basis, econometric models are used to study the internal-structural effects of internet development on China's urban GTFP. It is found that: (1) Internet development plays a positive role in promoting urban GTFP; (2) specifically, internet development is proven to achieve this effect simultaneously by inducing technological innovations, optimizing economic scale, and improving resource allocation efficiency. Among these, inducing technological innovations is the most important path; (3) there are distinct regional heterogeneous effects of internet development on China's urban GTFP. Based on the above results, corresponding policy suggestions are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing fiscal support is a crucial assurance for achieving green development, while the increasingly prominent fiscal expenditure stress has been subjected to a great challenge in achieving green transformation. Based on China's education authority reform as a quasi-natural experiment, this study uses green total factor productivity to represent urban green development, which has been widely used in the literature, and reveals how local government fiscal expenditure stress affects green total factor productivity. It is found that local fiscal stress significantly decreases the green total factor productivity of cities. This effect is particularly pronounced for resource-based cities, cities with laxer environmental regulations, and cities under greater pressure to promote and develop their economies. Moreover, it is confirmed that it is not the revenue-raising effect but rather the expenditure reduction effect that is at play. Specifically, local governments have reduced environmental protection expenditures and green subsidies, leading to a decline in the green innovation capacity of cities and corporations. Finally, based on the above findings, policy implications are provided to reduce the risk of green transformation from the perspective of policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for political promotion brings significant economic growth pressure (EGP) on local officials, which brings considerable economic and environmental impacts and thus theoretically has a significant effect on green total factor productivity (GTFP). However, few studies have explored the theoretical relationship between EGP and GTFP. To fill this gap, this paper based on Chinese prefecture-level cities indicates an inverted U-shaped relationship between EGP and GTFP. Moreover, EGP leads to non-monotonic changes in GTFP through its influence on technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the significant inverted U-shaped relationship between EGP and GTFP exists only in western and northeastern China. Longitudinally, this relationship exists only in the most recent period between 2015 and 2019. The article provides the first evidence of the relationship between EGP and GTFP and offers theoretical and practical insights as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green development, considering economic and environmental performance, has received increased attention globally. Moreover, the significant economic and environmental impacts of tourism are widely accepted by scholars. However, the nexus of tourism and green development is still unclear. To fill this gap, this study examines the effects of tourism on green development performance measured as green total factor productivity and the influence mechanisms. China's 308 cities' panel data between 2005 and 2019 provide empirical evidence. The results demonstrate an inverted U-shaped relationship between tourism and green total factor productivity, which is substantiated via various rigorous robustness tests. The key drivers of green total factor productivity change in cities include tourism-induced technological innovation, industrial structure optimisation, and environmental enhancement. Besides, the nexus of tourism and GTFP varies significantly across different socio-economic development regions. The positive relationship exists in relatively developed areas, while less-developed western China still keeps inverted U-shaped links between tourism and GTFP. The U-shaped relationship exists in central and northeastern China. The article is the first to systematically explore the impact of tourism on green development while revealing several potential mechanisms, thus significantly contributing to the literature on green development and sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies have found a non-linear relationship between the energy consumption structure (ECS) and the green total factor productivity (GTFP), but their influencing factors are not yet clear. This study examines the spatial impact of existing green development measures on coordinating the ECS and the GTFP using the coupling and spatial econometric models. The research findings are as follows: (1) The coordination between the ECS and the GTFP has increased over time, and the coordination is significantly higher in economically developed cities. (2) The spatial analysis results show a significant spatial auto-correlation between the ECS and the GTFP coordination. Green development approaches such as environmental regulations, technological innovations, and industrial structure significantly contribute to the degree of coordination. Decomposition of the spatial effects shows that technological innovations significantly affect local and neighbouring cities. These conclusions hold after endogeneity and robustness tests. The results suggest that local governments in city clusters should promote environmental regulations, industrial structure, and technological innovations to promote the coordinated development of the ECS and the GTFP of urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the constraints of the "dual-carbon" objectives, how China can sustain economic development while concurrently achieving carbon emission reduction has become a pressing issue. With the rapid expansion of China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), elucidating its impact on carbon emission efficiency (CEE) assumes pronounced significance. Employing the systematic generalized method of moments (GMM) approach, based on panel data spanning the years 2006 to 2019 for China, this study primarily delves into the influence of OFDI on China's CEE. Furthermore, it probes into the mechanisms and asymmetries underpinning the relationship between OFDI and CEE. The principal findings are as follows: (1) augmentation of OFDI exerts a constructive effect on domestic carbon emission reduction, concomitantly yielding a discernible enhancement in CEE. A 1% increase in the magnitude of OFDI flow gives rise to a 0.009% improvement in CEE. (2) Mechanism verification reveals that heightened levels of OFDI operate through elevating green total factor productivity (GTFP), fostering optimal industrial structural adjustments, and invigorating green technological innovation, thereby elevating the CEE of the home country. (3) Asymmetry characterizes the impact of OFDI on domestic CEE, signifying a significant enhancement in regions with lower CEE while exhibiting less conspicuous effects in areas with higher CEE. This study furnishes policymakers with insights into leveraging OFDI to enhance CEE, thereby facilitating the attainment of the "dual-carbon" objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Digital transformation has become an important engine for economic high-quality development and environment high-level protection. However, green total factor productivity (GTFP), as an indicator that comprehensively reflects economic and environmental benefits, there is a lack of studies that analyze the effect of digital transformation on heavily polluting enterprises' GTFP from a micro perspective, and its impact mechanism is still unclear. Therefore, we aim to study the impact of digital transformation on heavily polluting enterprises' GTFP and its mechanism, and explore the heterogeneity of its impact. Methods: We use Chinese A-share listed enterprises in the heavily polluting industry data from 2007 to 2019, measure enterprise digital transformation indicator using text analysis, and measure enterprise GTFP indicator using the GML index based on SBM directional distance function, to investigate the impact of digital transformation on heavily polluting enterprises' GTFP. Results: Digital transformation can significantly enhance heavily polluting enterprises' GTFP, and this finding still holds after considering the endogenous problem and conducting robustness tests. Digital transformation can enhance heavily polluting enterprises' GTFP by promoting green innovation, improving management efficiency, and reducing external transaction costs. The improvement role of digital transformation on heavily polluting enterprises' GTFP is more obvious in the samples of non-state-owned enterprises, non-high-tech industries, and the eastern region. Compared with blockchain technology, artificial intelligence technology, cloud computing technology, big data technology, and digital technology application can significantly improve heavily polluting enterprises' GTFP. Discussion: Our paper breaks through the limitations of existing research, which not only theoretically enriches the literature related to digital transformation and GTFP, but also practically provides policy implications for continuously promoting heavily polluting enterprises' digital transformation and facilitating their highquality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Enhancing green total factor productivity (GTFP) is essential for achieving the objective of green development, and the effect of environmental protection tax (EPT), a crucial instrument for addressing environmental challenges, on green TFP is crucial. Based on provincial panel data from 2004 to 2020 in China, this study uses inter-provincial differences in environmental protection tax rates as a quasi-natural experiment and utilizes a synthetic control method to assess the impact of the "changing sewage charge to tax" on regional GTFP. The empirical results suggest that EPT can help enhance GTFP, a finding that still holds after regional placebo tests, time placebo tests, and difference-in-differences robustness tests. The mechanism test demonstrates that EPT influences GTFP via the industrial structure impact and the green technological innovation effect. According to heterogeneity research, regions with a high level of marketization and financial growth are more significantly affected by environmental protection tax policy. This paper offers crucial empirical data for assessing the efficacy of environmental protection tax policy and enhancing the environmental tax system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the global Malmquist-Luenberger index to measure the effect of Internet development on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of China's 283 prefectural cities. We find that by promoting highquality development, the effect of Internet is significantly positive. Firstly, we explore the two mechanisms through which the use of the Internet promotes GTFP: improvements in the quantity and quality of urban innovation and the advancement and rationalization of urban industrial structures. Secondly, we compare the pre- and post-impacts of the Internet + initiative from which it draws critical policy implications. Finally, threshold regression shows that when urban Internet penetration and employee wages rise to their respective threshold levels, the promotion effect of the Internet on GTFP can be further augmented. Meanwhile, from the perspective of Intensive Growth Theory, the Internet's contribution to green labor productivity is more pronounced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst resource loss and environmental protection constraints, achieving green development necessitates enhancing green total factor productivity (GTFP) as a means of promoting rational and efficient resource allocation, thereby balancing economic growth and environmental preservation. Meanwhile, literature on the subject matter of GTFP from a sustainability viewpoint is minimal. As a result, this study employs the panel dataset from 30 provinces of China spanning the period 2005 to 2020 and utilizes the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) developed by Machado and Santos Silva (2019) to analyze the heterogeneous role of green innovation, environmental regulations, and fiscal expenditure on GTFP. Moreover, the controlling variable for this study includes renewable energy and economic growth. Furthermore, this study investigates the heterogeneous combined impact of green innovation and fiscal expenditure (GTE*FSE) on GTFP. The findings of the MMQR reveal that green innovation has a positive impact on GTFP, while fiscal expenditure, environmental regulations, and renewable energy consumption have a negative impact. GTE*FSE has a positive and significant effect on GTFP, indicating that FSE can reinforce and increase the positive impact of GTE on GTFP in the long run. The study also reveals that economic growth has a mixed effect on GTFP, depending on the quantiles. Furthermore, environmental regulation has a significant and negative impact on GTFP, contradicting the Porter hypothesis. Likewise, the robustness of the findings is confirmed by the results of the fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) estimations, which indicate a similar impact of the determinants on GTFP as observed in the MMQR analysis. This reinforces the validity of the findings and suggests that the observed relationships are robust to different estimation techniques. Furthermore, the findings of the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) panel causality test reveal significant bidirectional causality between renewable energy consumption and GTFP and fiscal expenditure and GTFP. Policy-makers need to channel a large chuck of their fiscal spending into green innovation so as to boost sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving green economic recovery is crucial to improving environmental quality and sustainable development. This study examines the influence of new digital infrastructure on green total factor productivity (GTFP) using panel data from 30 regions in China from 2008 to 2019. The results are as follows: (1) New digital infrastructure has a significant improvement effect on GTFP. After a series of robustness tests, the conclusion is still valid. (2) The improvement effect of new digital infrastructure on GTFP shows significant heterogeneity. In regions with high industrial agglomeration, high environmental regulation and strong government environmental preference, the improvement effect of new digital infrastructure on GTFP is more obvious. (3) New digital infrastructure improves GTFP through green technology innovation and factor allocation optimization. The government should strengthen the fiscal incentives for green technology development while increasing R&D investment in fiscal expenditure, thus promoting green economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how provincial top leaders' promotion incentives drive their strategies for eco-environmental performance in China. Economic growth, a short-term interest, should be integrated with ecological sustainability, a long-term interest, for sustainable development. We used green efficiency and green total factor productivity as proxies for eco-environmental performance. We then utilized a generalized ordered logit model to analyze the relationship between eco-environmental performance and position change among provincial officials in China. For provincial party committee secretaries, the short-term political performance achieved by supporting and investing in non-green economic practices served only to prevent their demotion, as promotions were obtained via improving green efficiency; however, for provincial governors, improving green efficiency can both reduce the risk of demotion and increase the probability of promotion. After the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law in 2015, improving green total factor productivity can more efficiently reduce the likelihood of demotion among provincial party committee secretaries while enhancing the effects of eco-environmental performance on position change among provincial party committee secretaries. Our study improves the single-oriented, super-efficiency data envelopment analysis model to optimize the process of solving both input- and output-oriented problems simultaneously and realizes efficiency ranking for eco-environmental performance among provincial officials. Furthermore, this finding deepens our understanding of both the promotion system for Chinese local leaders and motivations for eco-environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the spatial mechanisms and impacts of land transfer on green total factor productivity (GTFP) in the economically dynamic Yangtze River Delta region of China. Using urban-level panel data from 2007 to 2020 and applying spatial econometric models, the study examines the relationship between land transfer and GTFP. The results of the spatial econometric analysis show that land transfer in the overall Yangtze River Delta region contributes positively to the improvement of GTFP. The mediating mechanism of industrial restructuring and upgrading shows statistically significant effects. Further investigation reveals differences in the spatial interdependence of land transfer on the GTFP among cities in different regions. Land transfer in the core area has significant indirect effects on the GTFP of neighboring cities, while the impact of land transfer in peripheral cities on the GTFP of surrounding cities is less discernible. This suggests that there is still a need for further deepening and development of integration in peripheral cities, as factor integration is still insufficient. The findings of this study provide useful insights for local governments in optimizing land transfer practices and promoting industrial transformation, upgrading, and sustainable green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]