Spatial-temporal evolution and convergence analysis of agricultural green total factor productivity-evidence from the Yangtze River Delta Region of China

Hongjie Bao; Xiaoqian Liu; Xiaoyong Xu; Ling Shan; Yongteng Ma; Xiaoshuang Qu; Xiangyu He

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0271642

Spatial-temporal evolution and convergence analysis of agricultural green total factor productivity-evidence from the Yangtze River Delta Region of China

PLoS One. 2023 Mar 20;18(3):e0271642. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271642. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hongjie Bao¹, Xiaoqian Liu², Xiaoyong Xu³, Ling Shan⁴, Yongteng Ma⁵, Xiaoshuang Qu⁶, Xiangyu He⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Management, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou, China.
² Research Institute of Economics and Management, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China.
³ Department of Logistics, LanZhou University, Lanzhou, China.
⁴ School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China.
⁵ School of Economic, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou, China.
⁶ Business School, Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics, Zhengzhou, China.
⁷ Cantoese Merchants Business School, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Measuring regional differences in agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) provides a basis for policy guidance on agricultural green development in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. By constructing a two-period Malmquist-Luenberger index under the carbon emission constraint, we measure the AGTFP of cities in the YRD region from 2001 to 2019. Furthermore, adopting the Moran index method and the hot spot analysis method, this paper analyzes the global spatial correlation and local spatial correlation of AGTFP in this region. Moreover, we investigate its spatial convergence. The results show that the AGTFP of 41 cities in the YRD region is on an increasing trend; the growth of AGTFP in the eastern cities is mainly driven by green technical efficiency, while this growth in the southern cities is mainly stimulated by green technical efficiency and green technological progress. We also find a significant spatial correlation between cities' AGTFP in the YRD region from 2001 to 2019, but with certain fluctuations, showing a U-shaped trend of "strong-weak-strong". In addition, absolute β convergence of the AGTFP exists in the YRD region, and this convergence speed is accelerated with the addition of spatial factors. This evidence provides support for implementing the regional integration development strategy and optimizing the regional agricultural spatial layout. Our findings offer implications for promoting the transfer of green agricultural technology to the southwest of the YRD region, strengthening the construction of agricultural economic belts and agricultural economic circles, and improving the efficiency of agricultural resource use.

Copyright: © 2023 Bao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Agriculture*
China
Cities
Economic Development
Efficiency
Rivers
Technology*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by MOE (Ministry of Education of PRC) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences: 20YJC850001; Open Project of Key Laboratory of Ethnic Information E-commerce in Universities of Gansu Province (CN): 2020-2; the Introduction of Talent Research Program of Northwest Minzu University: xbmuyjrc202213; the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Northwest Minzu University(CN): 31920220154; the National Natural Science Foundation of China: 72102216. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.