Spatial heterogeneity of green total factor productivity of China’s marine economy from a multidimensional perspective

Abstract

[Objective] While China’s marine economy has maintained a stable development, there still exist problems of unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable development. Therefore, it is of great significance to scientifically measure the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of China’s marine economy and conduct in-depth research and analysis of its spatial heterogeneity based on a multidimensional perspective, so as to promote the spatial expansion of blue economy under the land-sea integrated development strategy. [Methods] In this study, the non-radial directionality function model of global reference and the global Malmquist-Luenberger index were used to measure the green total factor productivity of China’s marine economy from 2007 to 2018. Then from the two dimensions of time and space, spatial heterogeneity was examined by using the Dagum Gini coefficient, Kernel density method, and Markov chain method, and α convergence and β convergence tests were used to explore its convergence. [Results] The results show that: (1) From 2007 to 2018, the GTFP of marine economy in all coastal provinces and cities in China had improved, showing obvious regional characteristics and significant spatial imbalance. (2) The overall spatial differences of GTFP in China’s marine economy showed an upward trend and fluctuated with an increasing-decreasing-increasing pattern. (3) Temporally, China’s marine economy GTFP had steadily improved, showing the characteristics of gradual development with a two-level differentiation that first intensified and then improved, and the spatial heterogeneity had changed significantly. (4) In the whole country and the three major marine economic zones, GTFP showed phased convergence and divergence characteristics, diverging in the 11th Five-Year Plan and the 13th Five-Year Plan periods and converging in the 12th Five-Year Plan period; The GTFP of the marine economy in the three major marine economic zones showed absolute convergence, but there was no significant absolute convergence in the country as a whole; The GTFP of the marine economy showed conditional convergence in the whole country and the three major marine economic zones, with the eastern marine economic zone having the fastest convergence speed, followed by the north and the south. [Conclusion] This paper argues that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we should focus on optimizing the spatial layout of the green development of China’s marine economy and promoting the coordinated and sustainable development of regional marine economy.

Keywords

• |marine economy|green total factor productivity|multidimensional perspective|spatial heterogeneity|china