The impact of population urbanization lag on eco-efficiency: A panel quantile approach

摘要

China's urban built-up areas have developed fast, along with land urbanization growing rapidly. However, the population of urban agglomeration has not increased simultaneously, and urbanization speed of population is much smaller compared to land expansion. This study exploits super slack-based measure to evaluate eco-efficiency for 47 cities in the Bohai Rim from year 2005-2015. A population urbanization lag index is synthesized and the ordinary least squares and generalized methods of moments estimation approaches are adopted to explore the relationship between eco-efficiency and urbanization with special concentration on the population urbanization lag. Furthermore, a panel quantile approach is conducted to interpret the impact of urbanization and population urbanization lag on eco-efficiency in different quantiles. This study shows that per capita GDP and foreign direct investment have positive effects on eco-efficiency while industry structure, urbanization, and population urbanization lag have negative influences on eco-efficiency. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.