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Investigating the development efficiency of the green economy in China’s equipment manufacturing industry

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Abstract

The equipment manufacturing industry is the industrial base of China, which makes it imperative to coordinate the relationship between industrial development and environmental protection. Using panel data of the seven sub-industries in China’s equipment manufacturing industry from 2011 to 2015, this paper evaluates the static and dynamic aspects of green economic development efficiency by combining the super-efficiency slack-based measure model of unexpected output and the data envelopment analysis-Malmquist index model. The results show investments in research and development, and environmental regulations have yielded some positive results, but that regulations have also yielded some undesired output in terms of diminished economic benefits. Pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency have both declined, indicating that the scale and industrial structure need to be further optimized. The results of this study present an objective and comprehensive assessment of green economic development of China’s equipment manufacturing industry and provide valuable insights for improving green economic development efficiency.

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Funding

This study is supported by the following projects: the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2019QG011) and the Shandong Provincial Social Science Planning project (18CJJZ01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shengli College China University of Petroleum, Dongying, 257061, China

    Weijuan Li

  2. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China

    Xiao Ouyang

Authors
  1. Weijuan Li
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  2. Xiao Ouyang
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Correspondence to Weijuan Li.

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Responsible editor: Nicholas Apergis

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Li, W., Ouyang, X. Investigating the development efficiency of the green economy in China’s equipment manufacturing industry. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 24070–24080 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08811-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08811-3

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