IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v190y2017icp1081-1089.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy biased technology change: Focused on Chinese energy-intensive industries

Author

Listed:
  • Zha, Donglan
  • Kavuri, Anil Savio
  • Si, Songjian

Abstract

Technical change bias has predominately been measured through two-factor models. Resulting from the rising importance of energy we devised a framework to estimate technical change bias for three input factors. The framework involves an estimation of elasticity and technical change parameters for a constant elasticity of substitution function with capital, labour and energy, which is derived from the elasticities and marginal output. We apply the framework to investigate eleven Chinese energy-intensive industries. The optimal nested structure for eight of the industries is for capital and energy to be combined first at the composite level and then with labour to form total output. Between 1990 and 2012, six of the industries were energy biased, three were towards capital, one towards labour and one mixed. The results show that recent Chinese energy intensity reduction programs are not sufficient to induce energy efficient development. The policy recommendations target specifically the energy biased industries to achieve desired energy savings in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Zha, Donglan & Kavuri, Anil Savio & Si, Songjian, 2017. "Energy biased technology change: Focused on Chinese energy-intensive industries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 1081-1089.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:190:y:2017:i:c:p:1081-1089
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.11.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916315860
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.11.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kemfert, Claudia, 1998. "Estimated substitution elasticities of a nested CES production function approach for Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 249-264, June.
    2. Carlo Carraro & Emanuele Massetti & Lea Nicita, 2009. "How Does Climate Policy Affect Technical Change? An Analysis of the Direction and Pace of Technical Progress in a Climate-Economy Model," The Energy Journal, , vol. 30(2_suppl), pages 7-38, December.
    3. Sun, Chuanwang & Lin, Boqiang, 2013. "Reforming residential electricity tariff in China: Block tariffs pricing approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 741-752.
    4. Adetutu, Morakinyo O., 2014. "Energy efficiency and capital-energy substitutability: Evidence from four OPEC countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 363-370.
    5. Binswanger, Hans P, 1974. "The Measurement of Technical Change Biases with Many Factors of Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(6), pages 964-976, December.
    6. Smulders, Sjak & de Nooij, Michiel, 2003. "The impact of energy conservation on technology and economic growth," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 59-79, February.
    7. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Directed Technical Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(4), pages 781-809.
    8. Wu, Libo & Huo, Hong, 2014. "Energy efficiency achievements in China׳s industrial and transport sectors: How do they rate?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 38-46.
    9. Mallick, Debdulal, 2012. "The role of the elasticity of substitution in economic growth: A cross-country investigation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 682-694.
    10. Kander, Astrid & Stern, David I., 2014. "Economic growth and the transition from traditional to modern energy in Sweden," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 56-65.
    11. Koetse, Mark J. & de Groot, Henri L.F. & Florax, Raymond J.G.M., 2008. "Capital-energy substitution and shifts in factor demand: A meta-analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2236-2251, September.
    12. Raymond W. Goldsmith, 1951. "A Perpetual Inventory of National Wealth," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in Income and Wealth, Volume 14, pages 5-73, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Bessen, James, 2012. "More Machines, Better Machines…or Better Workers?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(1), pages 44-74, March.
    14. Lin, Boqiang & Jiang, Zhujun, 2011. "Estimates of energy subsidies in China and impact of energy subsidy reform," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 273-283, March.
    15. Miguel A. León-Ledesma & Peter McAdam & Alpo Willman, 2015. "Production Technology Estimates and Balanced Growth," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(1), pages 40-65, February.
    16. Smyth, Russell & Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Shi, Hongliang, 2011. "Substitution between energy and classical factor inputs in the Chinese steel sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 361-367, January.
    17. Hang, Leiming & Tu, Meizeng, 2007. "The impacts of energy prices on energy intensity: Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2978-2988, May.
    18. Otto, Vincent M. & Loschel, Andreas & Dellink, Rob, 2007. "Energy biased technical change: A CGE analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 137-158, May.
    19. Zha, Donglan & Zhou, Dequn, 2014. "The elasticity of substitution and the way of nesting CES production function with emphasis on energy input," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 793-798.
    20. Diamond, Peter & McFadden, Daniel & Rodriguez, Miguel, 1978. "Measurement of the Elasticity of Factor Substitution and Bias of Technical Change," Histoy of Economic Thought Chapters, in: Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel (ed.),Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications, volume 2, chapter 5, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought.
    21. Wang, Ce & Liao, Hua & Pan, Su-Yan & Zhao, Lu-Tao & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2014. "The fluctuations of China’s energy intensity: Biased technical change," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 407-414.
    22. Rainer Klump & Peter McAdam & Alpo Willman, 2012. "The Normalized Ces Production Function: Theory And Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 769-799, December.
    23. Saam, Marianne, 2014. "The identification of directed technical change revisited," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-127, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    24. Daron Acemoglu, 2007. "Equilibrium Bias of Technology," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(5), pages 1371-1409, September.
    25. Frondel, Manuel & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2004. "Facing the truth about separability: nothing works without energy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3-4), pages 217-223, December.
    26. Julian R. Betts, 1997. "The Skill Bias Of Technological Change In Canadian Manufacturing Industries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(1), pages 146-150, February.
    27. Sato, Ryuzo, 1970. "The Estimation of Biased Technical Progress and the Production Function," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 11(2), pages 179-208, June.
    28. Zha, DongLan & Zhou, DeQun & Ding, Ning, 2012. "The determinants of aggregated electricity intensity in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 150-156.
    29. Jin, Hui & Jorgenson, Dale W., 2010. "Econometric modeling of technical change," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 157(2), pages 205-219, August.
    30. Mongia, Puran & Schumacher, Katja & Sathaye, Jayant, 2001. "Policy reforms and productivity growth in India's energy intensive industries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(9), pages 715-724, July.
    31. Song, Malin & Wang, Shuhong, 2016. "Can employment structure promote environment-biased technical progress?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 285-292.
    32. Karanfil, Fatih & Yeddir-Tamsamani, Yasser, 2010. "Is technological change biased toward energy? A multi-sectoral analysis for the French economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1842-1850, April.
    33. Zhang, Shuwei & Bauer, Nico & Luderer, Gunnar & Kriegler, Elmar, 2014. "Role of technologies in energy-related CO2 mitigation in China within a climate-protection world: A scenarios analysis using REMIND," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 445-455.
    34. Marijn Verschelde & Michel Dumont & Bruno Merlevede & Glenn Rayp, 2014. "A constrained nonparametric regression analysis of factor-biased technical change and TFP growth at the firm level," Working Paper Research 266, National Bank of Belgium.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qiang Du & Yi Li & Libiao Bai, 2017. "The Energy Rebound Effect for the Construction Industry: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-11, May.
    2. Zhu, Lin & Luo, Jian & Dong, Qingli & Zhao, Yang & Wang, Yunyue & Wang, Yong, 2021. "Green technology innovation efficiency of energy-intensive industries in China from the perspective of shared resources: Dynamic change and improvement path," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    3. Chen, Yufen & Liu, Yanni, 2021. "How biased technological progress sustainably improve the energy efficiency: An empirical research of manufacturing industry in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    4. Shuai Zhang & Xiaoman Zhao & Changwei Yuan & Xiu Wang, 2020. "Technological Bias and Its Influencing Factors in Sustainable Development of China’s Transportation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-26, July.
    5. Li, Zhi & Zhao, Qing & Guo, Hong & Huang, Ruting, 2024. "Impact of fossil fuel subsidies on energy-saving technological change in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    6. Shuxing Chen & Xiangyang Du & Junbing Huang & Cheng Huang, 2019. "The Impact of Foreign and Indigenous Innovations on the Energy Intensity of China’s Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, February.
    7. Yujian Jin & Lihong Yu & Yan Wang, 2022. "Green Total Factor Productivity and Its Saving Effect on the Green Factor in China’s Strategic Minerals Industry from 1998–2017," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-20, November.
    8. Lin, Boqiang & Zhang, Qianxiang, 2023. "The transfer of energy-intensive projects under carbon constraints: Does energy structure matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    9. Zhu, Xuehong & Zeng, Anqi & Zhong, Meirui & Huang, Jianbai, 2021. "Elasticity of substitution and biased technical change in the CES production function for China's metal-intensive industries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    10. Máximo A. Domínguez-Garabitos & Víctor S. Ocaña-Guevara & Félix Santos-García & Adriana Arango-Manrique & Miguel Aybar-Mejía, 2022. "A Methodological Proposal for Implementing Demand-Shifting Strategies in the Wholesale Electricity Market," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-28, February.
    11. Liang Liu & Lianshui Li, 2021. "The effect of directed technical change on carbon dioxide emissions: evidence from China’s industrial sector at the provincial level," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 107(3), pages 2463-2486, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zha, Donglan & Kavuri, Anil Savio & Si, Songjian, 2018. "Energy-biased technical change in the Chinese industrial sector with CES production functions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 896-903.
    2. Zhu, Xuehong & Zeng, Anqi & Zhong, Meirui & Huang, Jianbai, 2021. "Elasticity of substitution and biased technical change in the CES production function for China's metal-intensive industries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Paul E. Brockway & Matthew K. Heun & João Santos & John R. Barrett, 2017. "Energy-Extended CES Aggregate Production: Current Aspects of Their Specification and Econometric Estimation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Yang, Bo & Liu, Baozhen & Peng, Jiachao & Liu, Xujun, 2022. "The impact of the embedded global value chain position on energy-biased technology progress: Evidence from chinas manufacturing," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Matthew K. Heun & João Santos & Paul E. Brockway & Randall Pruim & Tiago Domingos & Marco Sakai, 2017. "From Theory to Econometrics to Energy Policy: Cautionary Tales for Policymaking Using Aggregate Production Functions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-44, February.
    6. Karanfil, Fatih & Yeddir-Tamsamani, Yasser, 2010. "Is technological change biased toward energy? A multi-sectoral analysis for the French economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1842-1850, April.
    7. Knoblach, Michael & Rößler, Martin & Zwerschke, Patrick, 2016. "The Elasticity of Factor Substitution Between Capital and Labor in the U.S. Economy: A Meta-Regression Analysis," CEPIE Working Papers 03/16, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    8. Michael Knoblach & Fabian Stöckl, 2020. "What Determines The Elasticity Of Substitution Between Capital And Labor? A Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 847-875, September.
    9. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi & Elena Paglialunga, 2019. "Capital–energy substitutability in manufacturing sectors: methodological and policy implications," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(2), pages 157-182, June.
    10. Zha, Donglan & Zhou, Dequn, 2014. "The elasticity of substitution and the way of nesting CES production function with emphasis on energy input," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 793-798.
    11. Carraro, Carlo & De Cian, Enrica & Nicita, Lea & Massetti, Emanuele & Verdolini, Elena, 2010. "Environmental Policy and Technical Change: A Survey," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 4(2), pages 163-219, October.
    12. Feng, Shenghao & Zhang, Keyu, 2018. "Fuel-factor nesting structures in CGE models of China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 274-284.
    13. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    14. Ma, Chunbo & Stern, David I., 2016. "Long-run estimates of interfuel and interfactor elasticities," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 114-130.
    15. Manu, Ana S. & McAdam, Peter & Willman, Alpo, 2022. "China’s great expansion: The role of factor substitution and technical progress," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    16. Steve Sorrell, 2014. "Energy Substitution, Technical Change and Rebound Effects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-24, April.
    17. Daan Steenkamp, 2018. "Factor Substitution and Productivity in New Zealand," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 94(304), pages 64-79, March.
    18. Zhang, Hongsong, 2019. "Non-neutral technology, firm heterogeneity, and labor demand," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 145-168.
    19. Wang, Qunwei & Zhang, Cheng & Cai, Wanhuan, 2017. "Factor substitution and energy productivity fluctuation in China: A parametric decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 181-190.
    20. Inoue, Emiko & Taniguchi, Hiroya & Yamada, Ken, 2022. "Measuring energy-saving technological change: International trends and differences," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:190:y:2017:i:c:p:1081-1089. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.