IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v59y2021icp427-441.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of the spatial heterogeneity of human capital structure on regional green total factor productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Mei
  • Xu, Mi
  • Ma, Shaojun

Abstract

China’s rapid economic growth has resulted in resource consumption and environmental degradation. Only by improving green total factor productivity (GTFP) can China’s economic growth become stable and sustainable. Existing studies have demonstrated that total human capital can improve GTFP, but such studies have ignored the heterogeneous influence of human capital structure, and there is a lack research on how human capital structure affects GTFP spatially. Therefore, based on China’s provincial panel data from 2000 to 2018, this paper uses the Super-SBM-ML model to evaluate GTFP. The human capital is divided into that having academic education and that having only non-academic education, and then the spatial Dubin model is used to estimate the relationship between GTFP, academic education and non-academic education human capital. The empirical results show that different levels of human capital have different effects on GTFP. Some types of human capital (such as tertiary-level educational human capital) promote local GTFP, while other types (such as primary-level educational human capital) inhibit it. This indicates that local governments should optimize the human capital structure in order to promote green development. In addition, although there are effects of human capital on the spatial spillover of GTFP, those effects are not significant for some types of human capital, indicating that local circulation channels for human capital are not smooth, so it is necessary to improve local talent policies and strengthen regional cooperation and development so that human capital can promote the rapid development of a green economy. Finally, this paper proves that educational human capital can alter the impact on GTFP of technological progress, knowledge spillover, industrial upgrading and environmental regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Mei & Xu, Mi & Ma, Shaojun, 2021. "The effect of the spatial heterogeneity of human capital structure on regional green total factor productivity," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 427-441.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:59:y:2021:i:c:p:427-441
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2021.09.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X21001326
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2021.09.018?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. Chun-Li Tsai & Ming-Cheng Hung & Kevin Harriott, 2010. "Human Capital Composition and Economic Growth," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 41-59, October.
    2. Parman, John, 2012. "Good schools make good neighbors: Human capital spillovers in early 20th century agriculture," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 316-334.
    3. Liu, Zuankuo & Xin, Li, 2019. "Has China's Belt and Road Initiative promoted its green total factor productivity?——Evidence from primary provinces along the route," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 360-369.
    4. Yin, Jianhua & Zheng, Mingzheng & Chen, Jian, 2015. "The effects of environmental regulation and technical progress on CO2 Kuznets curve: An evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 97-108.
    5. Paul Almeida & Bruce Kogut, 1999. "Localization of Knowledge and the Mobility of Engineers in Regional Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(7), pages 905-917, July.
    6. Ang, James B. & Madsen, Jakob B. & Rabiul Islam, Md., 2011. "The effects of human capital composition on technological convergence," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 465-476, September.
    7. Zhang, Chuanguo & Zhuang, Lihuan, 2011. "The composition of human capital and economic growth: Evidence from China using dynamic panel data analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 165-171, March.
    8. Castelló-Climent, Amparo & Hidalgo-Cabrillana, Ana, 2012. "The role of educational quality and quantity in the process of economic development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 391-409.
    9. Zhu, Bangzhu & Zhang, Mengfan & Zhou, Yanhua & Wang, Ping & Sheng, Jichuan & He, Kaijian & Wei, Yi-Ming & Xie, Rui, 2019. "Exploring the effect of industrial structure adjustment on interprovincial green development efficiency in China: A novel integrated approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    10. Salim, Ruhul & Yao, Yao & Chen, George S., 2017. "Does human capital matter for energy consumption in China?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 49-59.
    11. Raul Ramos & Jordi Suriñach & Manuel Artís, 2010. "Human capital spillovers, productivity and regional convergence in Spain," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(2), pages 435-447, June.
    12. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    13. Tone, Kaoru, 2002. "A slacks-based measure of super-efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 32-41, November.
    14. Chen, Le & Heerink, Nico & van den Berg, Marrit, 2006. "Energy consumption in rural China: A household model for three villages in Jiangxi Province," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 407-420, June.
    15. Elvira Cerver-Romero & João J. Ferreira & Cristina Fernandes, 2020. "A scientometric analysis of knowledge spillover research," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 780-805, June.
    16. Shimada, Koji & Tanaka, Yoshitaka & Gomi, Kei & Matsuoka, Yuzuru, 2007. "Developing a long-term local society design methodology towards a low-carbon economy: An application to Shiga Prefecture in Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 4688-4703, September.
    17. Pachauri, Shonali & Jiang, Leiwen, 2008. "The household energy transition in India and China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 4022-4035, November.
    18. Xia, Fan & Xu, Jintao, 2020. "Green total factor productivity: A re-examination of quality of growth for provinces in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. Cole, Matthew A. & Elliott, Robert J.R. & Shimamoto, Kenichi, 2005. "Industrial characteristics, environmental regulations and air pollution: an analysis of the UK manufacturing sector," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 121-143, July.
    20. Yixiao Zhou, 2018. "Human capital, institutional quality and industrial upgrading: global insights from industrial data," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 1-27, February.
    21. Fabio Manca, 2012. "Human Capital Composition and Economic Growth at the Regional Level," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(10), pages 1367-1388, November.
    22. Hans-Jurgen Engelbrecht, 2002. "Human capital and international knowledge spillovers in TFP growth of a sample of developing countries: an exploration of alternative approaches," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(7), pages 831-841.
    23. Tong, Hefeng & Wang, Yan & Xu, Jiajun, 2020. "Green transformation in China: Structures of endowment, investment, and employment," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 173-185.
    24. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 1994. "The role of human capital in economic development evidence from aggregate cross-country data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 143-173, October.
    25. Rodney Ramcharan, 2004. "Higher or Basic Education? The Composition of Human Capital and Economic Development," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 51(2), pages 1-5.
    26. Raul Ramos & Jordi Surinach & Manuel Art�s, 2012. "Regional Economic Growth and Human Capital: The Role of Over-education," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(10), pages 1389-1400, November.
    27. Minihan, Erin S. & Wu, Ziping, 2012. "Economic structure and strategies for greenhouse gas mitigation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 350-357.
    28. Jérôme Vandenbussche & Philippe Aghion & Costas Meghir, 2006. "Growth, distance to frontier and composition of human capital," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 97-127, June.
    29. Xiaolan Fu & Wing Thye Woo & Jun Hou, 2016. "Technological innovation policy in China: the lessons, and the necessary changes ahead," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 139-157, August.
    30. Chintrakarn, Pandej, 2008. "Environmental regulation and U.S. states' technical inefficiency," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 363-365, September.
    31. Song, Malin & Du, Juntao & Tan, Kim Hua, 2018. "Impact of fiscal decentralization on green total factor productivity," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 359-367.
    32. Yafei Wang & Li Xie & Yi Zhang & Chunyun Wang & Ke Yu, 2019. "Does FDI Promote or Inhibit the High-Quality Development of Agriculture in China? An Agricultural GTFP Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-19, August.
    33. Simon, Curtis J. & Nardinelli, Clark, 2002. "Human capital and the rise of American cities, 1900-1990," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 59-96, January.
    34. W. Cooper & L. Seiford & K. Tone & J. Zhu, 2007. "Some models and measures for evaluating performances with DEA: past accomplishments and future prospects," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 151-163, December.
    35. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    36. Theodore W. Schultz, 1960. "Capital Formation by Education," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(6), pages 571-571.
    37. Dan He & Manxin Zheng & Wei Cheng & Yui-yip Lau & Qingmei Yin, 2019. "Interaction between Higher Education Outputs and Industrial Structure Evolution: Evidence from Hubei Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, May.
    38. Lu, Xin-hai & Jiang, Xu & Gong, Meng-qi, 2020. "How land transfer marketization influence on green total factor productivity from the approach of industrial structure? Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    39. Jiangfeng Hu & Zhao Wang & Qinghua Huang & Xiaoqin Zhang, 2019. "Environmental Regulation Intensity, Foreign Direct Investment, and Green Technology Spillover—An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lee, Chien-Chiang & He, Zhi-Wen & Yuan, Zihao, 2023. "A pathway to sustainable development: Digitization and green productivity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    2. Yuxin Fang & Hongjun Cao, 2022. "Environmental Decentralization, Heterogeneous Environmental Regulation, and Green Total Factor Productivity—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Can Cheng & Xiuwen Yu & Heng Hu & Zitian Su & Shangfeng Zhang, 2022. "Measurement of China’s Green Total Factor Productivity Introducing Human Capital Composition," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-19, October.
    4. Yu, Shiwei & Zheng, Yali & Hu, Xing & Shu, Kesheng, 2022. "Spatial impacts of biomass resource endowment on provincial green development efficiency," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 651-662.
    5. Meiling Wang & Silu Pang & Ikram Hmani & Ilham Hmani & Cunfang Li & Zhengxia He, 2021. "Towards sustainable development: How does technological innovation drive the increase in green total factor productivity?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 217-227, January.
    6. Lv, Chengchao & Song, Jie & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "Can digital finance narrow the regional disparities in the quality of economic growth? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 502-521.
    7. Junqi Wen & Yong Lan & Guoqin Bu, 2024. "Do Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support Policies Promote Urban Green Transformation?—The Mediating Role of Fiscal Technology Expenditure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-24, March.
    8. Md. Rabiul Islam & James B. Ang & Jakob B. Madsen, 2014. "Quality-Adjusted Human Capital And Productivity Growth," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(2), pages 757-777, April.
    9. Bahar Bayraktar-Sağlam, 2016. "The Stages of Human Capital and Economic Growth: Does the Direction of Causality Matter for the Rich and the Poor?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 243-302, May.
    10. Dan Pan & Yi Yu & Fanbin Kong, 2023. "Quantifying the Effectiveness of Environmental Regulations on Green Total Factor Productivity: Evidence Based on China’s Environmental Protection Interview Program," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-20, February.
    11. Huang, Hongyun & Mo, Renbian & Chen, Xingquan, 2021. "New patterns in China's regional green development: An interval Malmquist–Luenberger productivity analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 161-173.
    12. Senhua Huang & Lingming Chen, 2023. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on the Urban Total-Factor Energy Efficiency: Evidence from 275 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    13. Catarina Moura e Sa Cardoso & Geetha Ravishankar, 2015. "Productivity growth and convergence: a stochastic frontier analysis," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 42(2), pages 224-236, May.
    14. Hong, Junjie & Shi, Fangyuan & Zheng, Yuhan, 2023. "Does network infrastructure construction reduce energy intensity? Based on the “Broadband China” strategy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    15. Altinok, Nadir & Aydemir, Abdurrahman, 2017. "Does one size fit all? The impact of cognitive skills on economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 176-190.
    16. Seungil Yum, 2019. "The interaction between knowledge-intensive business services and urban economy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 63(1), pages 53-83, August.
    17. Zhou, Lin & Fan, Jianshuang & Hu, Mingzhi & Yu, Xiaofen, 2024. "Clean air policy and green total factor productivity: Evidence from Chinese prefecture-level cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    18. Moraes, Ricardo Kalil & Wanke, Peter Fernandes & Faria, João Ricardo, 2021. "Unveiling the endogeneity between social-welfare and labor efficiency: Two-stage NDEA neural network approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    19. Esther Goya & Esther Vayá & Jordi Suriñach, 2012. "“Do intra- and inter-industry spillovers matter? CDM model estimates for Spain”," IREA Working Papers 201214, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Sep 2012.
    20. Sinha, Avik & Rastogi, Siddhartha K., 2017. "Collaboration between Central and State Government and Environmental Quality: Evidences from Indian Cities," MPRA Paper 100012, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Human capital structure; Green total factor productivity; Academic education; Non-academic education; Spatial Dubin model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:streco:v:59:y:2021:i:c:p:427-441. 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/locate/inca/525148 .

    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.