Research On Sustainable Total Factor Ecological Efficiency Considering Ecological Threshold

The key to boosting China’s sustainable growth is to enhance ecological efficiency,while traditional ecological efficiency assessments do not take both economic and ecological into account,not to mention the question of ecological threshold.With this regard,based on the theory of sustainable development,this paper first incorporates ecological inputs(ecological footprint),economic inputs(labor and capital),and human development indices such as economic level,health level,and education level as comprehensive outputs into the framework of ecological efficiency analysis to construct a sustainable total-factor ecological efficiency system.Next,this paper attempts to determine the ecological threshold by using a panel smoothing transition regression model with nonlinear tests and parameter estimation.In what follows,a combined DEA model is used to calculate sustainable total factor ecological efficiency from both global and provincial perspectives,as well as to explore its convergence,regional disparities,and dynamic evolution.Finally,the social network analysis approach is adopted to investigate the geographical correlation features of long-term total factor ecological efficiency at the province level in China.The main findings obtained from this study are as follows:(1)Ecological threshold aspects.The ecological threshold denotes the key point at which changes in ecosystem stability take place.According to the results of the panel smoothing transition regression model,30 of the 56 countries with populations greater than 10 million have surpassed the ecological threshold,including not only developed countries such as the United States,Australia,and Canada,but also developing countries such as Russia,China,and Thailand.In particular,China exceeded the ecological threshold in 2006,indicating that the ecosystem stabilization in China has been irreversibly altered and this alteration is intensifying.Meanwhile,nations that exceeded the ecological threshold throughout the sample period had no decline,implying that it is difficult to lower ecological consumption after individuals have reached a certain level.(2)Global perspective.In terms of the ecological threshold of sustainable total factor ecological efficiency,China ranks 51 st out of the 56 major countries with a global population of more than 10 million,and its sustainable development is pessimistic,with a large gap with the global average sustainable total factor ecological efficiency.Moreover,in terms of subgroups,developed nations’ growth is more sustainable,which is connected to their strong economic strength,superior technology,and more effective management,and is also in keeping with the current scenario.In contrast,China not only lags behind the developed world as a whole,but also falls short of the average level of developing nations,showing that China,as the world’s largest developing country,has a long way to go in terms of sustainable development.Furthermore,from a dynamic standpoint,China’s sustainable total factor ecological efficiency is dropping,with its worldwide reference Malmquist index less than unity,and the primary cause of this decrease is a decline in sustainable technology.On the contrary,global sustainable total factor ecological efficiency displays a steady increase trend,with sustainable technology innovation serving as the primary engine.(3)Provincial perspective.When ecological threshold is taken into account,the overall sustainable total factor ecological efficiency of 30 China’s provinces is relatively low,and efficiency disparities among provinces are significant,with a moderate increasing trend.What’s more,according to the Kernel density function,the sustainable total factor ecological efficiency has a clear bimodal distribution,indicating that the Matthew effect of China’s provincial sustainable development exists.More specifically,from a regional standpoint,the overall sustainable total factor ecological efficiency of the three regions is low,with the eastern region having the highest efficiency,followed by the western region,and the central region having the lowest performance.From a provincial standpoint,Beijing,Tianjin,Shanghai,Hainan,Qinghai,and Ningxia have reached the optimal state of sustainable production with an efficiency value of unity.From the efficiency decomposition,the variables influencing the efficiency of sustainable development in the three regions are different,that is the inefficiency of sustainable development in the eastern region is primarily caused by ineffective sustainable management,that in the central region is primarily caused by the technological gap of sustainable development and that in the western region is caused by the combinations of the technology of sustainable development and the efficiency of sustainable management.(4)Network level.With regards to environmental threshold,a significant spatial network relationship is exhibited among China’s provincial sustainable total factor ecological efficiency.Among them,a few provinces,such as Jiangsu,Guangdong,Shandong,Ningxia,and Zhejiang,form the nucleus of the spatial association network for sustainable total factor ecological efficiency,and these provinces have more receiving and spillover relationships with other provinces and cities,which are closely related and play a key role in controlling the entire network and bridging the spatial spillover and receiving of sustainable total factor ecological efficiency among various provinces.Moreover,the results from quadratic assignment procedure(QAP)demonstrate that the regression coefficients of urban population gap and energy structure difference are negative,indicating that the reduction of urban population gap and energy structure difference between provinces is conducive to the formation of sustainable total factor ecological efficiency spatial association and sustainable total factor ecological efficiency spatial overflow.Furthermore,the regression coefficient of trade dependence difference is positive,indicating that foreign trade is conducive to sustainable total factor ecological efficiency that foreign trade facilitates sustainable total factor ecological efficiency in spatial spillover.