IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v191y2023ics0040162523002068.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The relationship between total factor productivity and environmental quality: A sustainable future with innovation input

Author

Listed:
  • Liang, Chao
  • Wang, Qi

Abstract

Environmental quality has become an important issue around the world and has received much public attention in China. China is currently experiencing a rapid improvement in industrialization and urbanization. However, irrational resource exploitation and excessive energy consumption in the development track of the economy have contributed to the severe environmental quality crisis in China. Consequently, this study is devoted to exploring the association between economic development measured by total factor productivity (TFP) and environmental quality identified by SO2 emissions and PM2.5 concentrations in peripheral cities of China between 2004 and 2018. Using a two-way fixed effects model, we find a negative effect of TFP on environmental quality. Specifically, every 10 % increase in TFP significantly reduces SO2 emissions by 0.844 % and PM2.5 concentrations by 0.121 %. We also conclude that innovation input measured by science and technology expenditure plays a mediating role between environmental quality and TFP. Meanwhile, the impact of TFP on the mitigation of environmental problems varies significantly with regard to different regions, TFP scales, and industrial structures. Overall, our findings provide comprehensive insights into prefectural-level TFP and innovation input on environmental quality initiatives.

Suggested Citation

  • Liang, Chao & Wang, Qi, 2023. "The relationship between total factor productivity and environmental quality: A sustainable future with innovation input," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:191:y:2023:i:c:s0040162523002068
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122521
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162523002068
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122521?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. 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.
    2. David Popp, 2011. "International Technology Transfer, Climate Change, and the Clean Development Mechanism," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(1), pages 131-152, Winter.
    3. Zeng, Jingjing & Liu, Ting & Feiock, Richard & Li, Fei, 2019. "The impacts of China's provincial energy policies on major air pollutants: A spatial econometric analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 392-403.
    4. William Brock & M. Taylor, 2010. "The Green Solow model," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 127-153, June.
    5. Matthew A. Cole & Robert J.R. Elliott & Jing Zhang, 2011. "Growth, Foreign Direct Investment, And The Environment: Evidence From Chinese Cities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 121-138, February.
    6. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    7. Wang, Erhong & Gozgor, Giray & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Patel, Gupteswar & Hu, Guoheng, 2022. "Effects of institutional quality and political risk on the renewable energy consumption in the OECD countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Farhani, Sahbi & Mrizak, Sana & Chaibi, Anissa & Rault, Christophe, 2014. "The environmental Kuznets curve and sustainability: A panel data analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 189-198.
    9. Chen, Shuai & Gong, Binlei, 2021. "Response and adaptation of agriculture to climate change: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    10. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    11. Su, Chi-Wei & Yuan, Xi & Tao, Ran & Shao, Xuefeng, 2022. "Time and frequency domain connectedness analysis of the energy transformation under climate policy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    12. Acaravci, Ali & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2010. "On the relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth in Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 5412-5420.
    13. Ozturk, Ilhan & Acaravci, Ali, 2010. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in Turkey," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 3220-3225, December.
    14. Ibrahim D. Raheem & Aviral K. Tiwari & Daniel Balsalobre-lorente, 2019. "The Role of ICT and Financial Development on CO2 Emissions and Economic Growth," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/058, African Governance and Development Institute..
    15. Chimeli, Ariaster B. & Braden, John B., 2005. "Total factor productivity and the environmental Kuznets curve," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 366-380, March.
    16. Loarne-Lemaire, Séverine Le & Bertrand, Gaël & Razgallah, Meriam & Maalaoui, Adnane & Kallmuenzer, Andreas, 2021. "Women in innovation processes as a solution to climate change: A systematic literature review and an agenda for future research," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    17. Wang, Keying & Wu, Meng & Sun, Yongping & Shi, Xunpeng & Sun, Ao & Zhang, Ping, 2019. "Resource abundance, industrial structure, and regional carbon emissions efficiency in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 203-214.
    18. Lars Moratis, 2018. "Signalling Responsibility? Applying Signalling Theory to the ISO 26000 Standard for Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-20, November.
    19. Dogan, Eyup & Chishti, Muhammad Zubair & Karimi Alavijeh, Nooshin & Tzeremes, Panayiotis, 2022. "The roles of technology and Kyoto Protocol in energy transition towards COP26 targets: Evidence from the novel GMM-PVAR approach for G-7 countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    20. Alvarez-Herranz, Agustin & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Cantos, José María, 2017. "Energy innovation and renewable energy consumption in the correction of air pollution levels," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 386-397.
    21. Wu, Zhanglan & Shao, Qinglong & Su, Yantao & Zhang, Dan, 2021. "A socio-technical transition path for new energy vehicles in China: A multi-level perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    22. Omri, Anis, 2013. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth nexus in MENA countries: Evidence from simultaneous equations models," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 657-664.
    23. Arouri, Mohamed El Hedi & Ben Youssef, Adel & M'henni, Hatem & Rault, Christophe, 2012. "Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 342-349.
    24. Jayanthakumaran, Kankesu & Verma, Reetu & Liu, Ying, 2012. "CO2 emissions, energy consumption, trade and income: A comparative analysis of China and India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 450-460.
    25. Shen, Huayu & Liang, Yue & Li, Hanwen & Liu, Jie & Lu, Guangxi, 2021. "Does geopolitical risk promote mergers and acquisitions of listed companies in energy and electric power industries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    26. Yuegang Song & Feng Hao & Xiazhen Hao & Giray Gozgor, 2021. "Economic Policy Uncertainty, Outward Foreign Direct Investments, and Green Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from Firm-Level Data in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-16, February.
    27. Ren, Xiaohang & Zhang, Xiao & Yan, Cheng & Gozgor, Giray, 2022. "Climate policy uncertainty and firm-level total factor productivity: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    28. Afrifa, Godfred Adjapong & Tingbani, Ishmael & Yamoah, Fred & Appiah, Gloria, 2020. "Innovation input, governance and climate change: Evidence from emerging countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    29. Gao, Kang & Yuan, Yijun, 2021. "The effect of innovation-driven development on pollution reduction: Empirical evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    30. Jung Wan Lee & Tantatape Brahmasrene, 2014. "ICT, CO 2 Emissions and Economic Growth: Evidence from a Panel of ASEAN," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 93-109, June.
    31. Anelí Bongers, 2020. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve and the Energy Mix: A Structural Estimation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, May.
    32. Cole, M.A. & Rayner, A.J. & Bates, J.M., 1997. "The environmental Kuznets curve: an empirical analysis," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(4), pages 401-416, November.
    33. Wu, Zhonghuan & Duan, Chunlin & Cui, Yuting & Qin, Rong, 2023. "Consumers' attitudes toward low-carbon consumption based on a computational model: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PA).
    34. Ho, Kung-Cheng & Shen, Xixi & Yan, Cheng & Hu, Xiang, 2023. "Influence of green innovation on disclosure quality: Mediating role of media attention," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    35. Amri, Fethi & Zaied, Younes Ben & Lahouel, Bechir Ben, 2019. "ICT, total factor productivity, and carbon dioxide emissions in Tunisia," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 212-217.
    36. Moutinho, Victor & Madaleno, Mara & Inglesi-Lotz, Roula & Dogan, Eyup, 2018. "Factors affecting CO2 emissions in top countries on renewable energies: A LMDI decomposition application," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 605-622.
    37. Abdouli, Mohamed & Hammami, Sami, 2017. "Investigating the causality links between environmental quality, foreign direct investment and economic growth in MENA countries," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 264-278.
    38. Rui Xie & Siling Yao & Feng Han & Jiayu Fang, 2019. "Land Finance, Producer Services Agglomeration, and Green Total Factor Productivity," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 42(5-6), pages 550-579, September.
    39. Zhang, Dongna & Zhao, Zuoxiang & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2022. "Sovereign ESG and corporate investment: New insights from the United Kingdom," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    40. Ben Lahouel, Béchir & Taleb, Lotfi & Ben Zaied, Younes & Managi, Shunsuke, 2021. "Does ICT change the relationship between total factor productivity and CO2 emissions? Evidence based on a nonlinear model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    41. Pegkas, Panagiotis & Staikouras, Christos & Tsamadias, Constantinos, 2019. "Does research and development expenditure impact innovation? Evidence from the European Union countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 1005-1025.
    42. Wang, Jianda & Dong, Kangyin & Sha, Yezhou & Yan, Cheng, 2022. "Envisaging the carbon emissions efficiency of digitalization: The case of the internet economy for China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    43. Xinshu Zhao & John G. Lynch & Qimei Chen, 2010. "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 197-206, August.
    44. Nicole Darnall & Joann Carmin, 2005. "Greener and cleaner? The signaling accuracy of U.S. voluntary environmental programs," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 38(2), pages 71-90, September.
    45. Abdelzaher, Dina M. & Martynov, Aleksey & Abdel Zaher, Angie M., 2020. "Vulnerability to climate change: Are innovative countries in a better position?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    46. Sahbi Farhani & Sana Mrizak & Anissa Chaibi & Christophe Rault, 2014. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve and Sustainability: A Panel Data Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 4787, CESifo.
    47. Shang, Yunfeng & Han, Ding & Gozgor, Giray & Mahalik, Mantu Kumar & Sahoo, Bimal Kishore, 2022. "The impact of climate policy uncertainty on renewable and non-renewable energy demand in the United States," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 654-667.
    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. Yan, Xiang & Han, Zhiyong & Zou, Chen & Cheng, Changgao, 2024. "Assessing the role of emerging green technology transfer in sustainable development and identification of key regions in Yangtze River Delta region," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    2. Liu, Guangqiang & Xu, Weiju & Nguyen, Quang Minh, 2024. "Can the energy transition drive economic development? Empirical analysis of China's provincial panel data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    3. Zhang, Zhihao, 2023. "Are climate risks helpful for understanding inflation in BRICS countries?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).
    4. Li, Yabo & Teng, Rui & Iqbal, Mubasher, 2023. "Natural resources rent and climate vulnerability: An inverted U-shaped relationship moderated by productive capacity, trade openness, and urbanization in resource-abundant countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    5. Yan, Xiang & Xin, Boqing & Cheng, Changgao & Han, Zhiyong, 2024. "Unpacking energy consumption in China's urbanization: Industry development, population growth, and spatial expansion," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    6. Luo, Keyu & Ye, Yong, 2024. "How responsive are retail electricity prices to crude oil fluctuations in the US? Time-varying and asymmetric perspectives," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    7. Wang, Lu & Ruan, Hang & Lai, Xiaodong & Li, Dongxin, 2024. "Economic extremes steering renewable energy trajectories: A time-frequency dissection of global shocks," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    8. Pan, Zhigang & Bai, Zhihong & Xing, Xiaochao & Wang, Zhufeng, 2024. "US inflation and global commodity prices: Asymmetric interdependence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    9. Chen, Zhonglu & Wang, Chuan & Bai, Fan, 2024. "Greenhouse gas emissions and global real economic activities," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    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. Tiba, Sofien & Omri, Anis, 2017. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy, environment and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1129-1146.
    2. Sofien, Tiba & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Literature survey on the relationships between energy variables, environment and economic growth," MPRA Paper 82555, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Sep 2016.
    3. Seker, Fahri & Ertugrul, Hasan Murat & Cetin, Murat, 2015. "The impact of foreign direct investment on environmental quality: A bounds testing and causality analysis for Turkey," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 347-356.
    4. Saida Daly & Mohamed Abdouli, 2023. "The Nexus between Environmental Quality, Economic Growth, and Trade Openness in Saudi Arabia (1990-2017)," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(4), pages 579-598, July.
    5. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Foreign Direct Investment–CO2 Emissions Nexus in Middle East and North African countries: Importance of Biomass Energy Consumption," MPRA Paper 91729, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 19 Jan 2019.
    6. Sofien Tiba & Mohamed Frikha, 2020. "EKC and Macroeconomics Aspects of Well-being: a Critical Vision for a Sustainable Future," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(3), pages 1171-1197, September.
    7. Muhammad Bilal Khan & Hummera Saleem & Malik Shahzad Shabbir & Xie Huobao, 2022. "The effects of globalization, energy consumption and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in South Asian countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 33(1), pages 107-134, February.
    8. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    9. Huaping Sun & Samuel Attuquaye Clottey & Yong Geng & Kai Fang & Joshua Clifford Kofi Amissah, 2019. "Trade Openness and Carbon Emissions: Evidence from Belt and Road Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-20, May.
    10. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Sinha, Avik, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 emission: A survey of empirical literature," MPRA Paper 100257, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.
    11. repec:ipg:wpaper:2014-467 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Chien, Fengsheng & Anwar, Ahsan & Hsu, Ching-Chi & Sharif, Arshian & Razzaq, Asif & Sinha, Avik, 2021. "The role of information and communication technology in encountering environmental degradation: Proposing an SDG framework for the BRICS countries," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    13. Azam, Muhammad & Khan, Abdul Qayyum, 2016. "Testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis: A comparative empirical study for low, lower middle, upper middle and high income countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 556-567.
    14. Tiba, Sofien & Frikha, Mohamed, 2019. "The controversy of the resource curse and the environment in the SDGs background: The African context," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 437-452.
    15. Bouznit, Mohammed & Pablo-Romero, María del P., 2016. "CO2 emission and economic growth in Algeria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 93-104.
    16. Al Mamun, Md. & Sohag, Kazi & Hannan Mia, Md. Abdul & Salah Uddin, Gazi & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2014. "Regional differences in the dynamic linkage between CO2 emissions, sectoral output and economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-11.
    17. Ben Lahouel, Béchir & Taleb, Lotfi & Ben Zaied, Younes & Managi, Shunsuke, 2021. "Does ICT change the relationship between total factor productivity and CO2 emissions? Evidence based on a nonlinear model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    18. Sun, Huaping & Samuel, Clottey Attuquaye & Kofi Amissah, Joshua Clifford & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Mensah, Isaac Adjei, 2020. "Non-linear nexus between CO2 emissions and economic growth: A comparison of OECD and B&R countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    19. Ben Youssef, Adel & Hammoudeh, Shawkat & Omri, Anis, 2016. "Simultaneity modeling analysis of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 266-274.
    20. Jeyhun I. Mikayilov & Marzio Galeotti & Fakhri J. Hasanov, 2018. "The Impact of Economic Growth on CO2 Emissions in Azerbaijan," IEFE Working Papers 102, IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    21. Bölük, Gülden & Mert, Mehmet, 2015. "The renewable energy, growth and environmental Kuznets curve in Turkey: An ARDL approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 587-595.

    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:tefoso:v:191:y:2023:i:c:s0040162523002068. 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.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    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.