Financial agglomeration, technological innovation, and green total factor energy efficiency

Based on the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces in 2000–2018, this paper measures the green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE) of China with the super-slack-based measure (Super-SBM) model. Then, the spatial correlation of provincial GTFEEs was analyzed, a spatial econometric model was established based on the panel data, and was used to empirically verify the effect of financial agglomeration, technological innovation, and financial agglomeration and technological innovation interaction on GTFEE. The results show that: in the sample period, most Chinese provinces had a low GTFEE, and the low-GTFEE provinces mainly belong to inland area; only a few eastern coastal provinces achieved a satisfactory GTFEE. China and its three regions exhibited similar trends of GTFEE. By mean GTFEE, eastern region ranked the highest, followed by central region; the western region came at the bottom. The Global Moran’s I values show strong spatial correlations between provincial GTFEEs, that is, adjacent provinces often have similar GTFEEs, and the provinces tend to cluster in terms of GTFEE. According to the spatial econometric model, GTFEE is significantly inhibited by financial agglomeration, but significantly promoted by technological innovation. GTFEE is not clearly affected by financial agglomeration and technological innovation interaction. Opening up has a significant positive impact on GTFEE, while industrial structure, energy structure and environmental regulation have a significant negative impact on GTFEE.