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Hidden Carbon Emissions, Industrial Clusters, and Structure Optimization in China

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Abstract

Vertical specialized trade has become more important globally because of the prevalence of a vertical specialization production mode. Therefore, it is essential to research the relationships between the carbon emissions of intermediate products which have rarely been considered in the field of trading and environmental protection. By establishing a theoretical model for industrial clusters and environmental regulations, this article proved that labor productivity, environmental regulations, and environmental elements productivity were key factors that affected the industrial cluster. Then, in the measurement model established, the key indicators of theoretical model were collected and the effects of factors such as hidden carbon emissions, the degree of vertical specialization, and the different labor–wage ratio on industrial clusters are measured. The article concluded that China has to consider the environment when vigorously advancing the industrial cluster thereby realizing a symbiotic development. The article also carried out an environmental super-efficiency evaluation on the structure of each industry in hope of finding out the direction of optimization of industrial structure.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Major Projects in Philosophy and Social Science Research of the Ministry of Education of China under [Grant No. 14JZD031]; the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University under [Grant No. NCET-12-0595]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under [Grant Nos. 71171001 & 71471001]; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation under [Grant No. 2015M570613]; Special Project of Postdoctoral Innovation Projects of Shandong under [Grant No. 201503013] and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong, China under [Grant No. ZR2015PG003].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, People’s Republic of China

    Shu-Hong Wang

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center for Energy Economics and Energy Policy, Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, People’s Republic of China

    Ma-Lin Song

  3. School of Economics, Nankai University of China, Tianjin, 300071, People’s Republic of China

    Tao Yu

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  1. Shu-Hong Wang
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  2. Ma-Lin Song
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  3. Tao Yu
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Correspondence to Ma-Lin Song.

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Wang, SH., Song, ML. & Yu, T. Hidden Carbon Emissions, Industrial Clusters, and Structure Optimization in China. Comput Econ 54, 1319–1342 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-016-9570-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-016-9570-7

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