Impact of marine industrial structure on environmental efficiency
Management of Environmental Quality
ISSN: 1477-7835
Article publication date: 3 October 2019
Issue publication date: 9 January 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Recently, China has been paying increasing attention to how to improve the efficiency of the marine environment and realize a green and sustainable development of the marine economy. Consequently, the industrial structure is crucial to improving efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to introduce environmental factors into the efficiency analysis framework and explore the relationship between marine industrial structure and marine environmental efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses marine economic data under the DEA-BBC model to measure the marine environmental efficiency of provinces and cities and classifies them by cluster analysis. Then, the marine industrial structure and marine environmental efficiency are studied by an econometric model with human capital, ownership structure, land economic development level, scientific research input and government intervention degree as control variables.
Findings
The overall level of marine environmental efficiency is relatively low in China, increasing and then decreasing over the research period. The rationalization of industrial structure and scientific research input have significant promoting effects on marine environmental efficiency, while the degree of government intervention has a significant inhibiting effect. The positive effect of human capital on efficiency depends on whether it can be successfully converted into productivity. The effects of industrial structure advancement, ownership structure and land economic development level of on the marine environmental efficiency are mixed.
Originality/value
The results provide a theoretical and decision-making basis for China to transform and upgrade its marine industrial structure and sustainably develop the marine economy.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 71471001, 41771568, 71533004, 71503001 and 71601170) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos 2016YFA0602500 and 16YJC630123).
Citation
Wang, S., Xing, L. and Chen, H. (2020), "Impact of marine industrial structure on environmental efficiency", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 111-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-06-2019-0119
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited