Analysis of industrial transformation and upgrading in resource-exhausted cities: evidence from city-level and enterprise-level panel data.
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17979/ejge.2025.14.1.10797Abstract
Massive and irrational exploitation of natural resources promoted the industrialization process, which formed different categories of resource-based cities. Although these cities have made dramatic contributions to socio-economic development in the last two decades, they are now facing grave problems due to resource depletion. Industrial transformation and upgrading are the only ways to cope with this situation. Therefore, this study utilizes the city-level and enterprise-level data to analyze the industrial transformation and upgrading of resource-exhausted cities in China. Both the macro- and micro-empirical results demonstrate that the central policy of the State Council has a positive feedback on industrial transformation. Then the findings of baseline regression are validated by robustness and heterogeneity tests. What’s more, the policy facilitates industrial upgrading by promoting transition to technology-intensive and high-value chain industries. Finally, we propose relevant implications for industrial transformation on the basis of the main findings.
Keywords:
Article Details
References
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., & Robinson, J. A. (2012). The colonial origins of comparative development: An empirical investigation: Reply. American Economic Review, 102(6), 3077–3110. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.6.3077
Auty, R. M. (1994). Industrial policy reform in six large newly industrializing countries: The resource curse thesis. World Development, 22(1), 11–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(94)90165-1
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173
Brandt, L., & Li, H. (2003). Bank discrimination in transition economies: Ideology, information, or incentives? Journal of Comparative Economics, 31(3), 387–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-5967(03)00080-5
Brandt, L., Van Biesebroeck, J., & Zhang, Y. (2012). Creative accounting or creative destruction? Firm-level productivity growth in Chinese manufacturing. Journal of Development Economics, 97(2), 339–351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.02.002
Cai, X., Lu, Y., Wu, M., & Yu, L. (2016). Does environmental regulation drive away inbound foreign direct investment? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China. Journal of Development Economics, 123, 73–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.08.003
Cheng, Z., Li, L., & Liu, J. (2018). Industrial structure, technical progress and carbon intensity in China's provinces. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 81, 2935–2946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.06.103
Cockx, L., & Francken, N. (2014). Extending the concept of the resource curse: Natural resources and public spending on health. Ecological Economics, 108, 136–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.10.013
Cole, M. A. (2000). Air pollution and 'dirty' industries: How and why does the composition of manufacturing output change with economic development? Environmental and Resource Economics, 17(1), 109–123. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008388221831
Du, K., Cheng, Y., & Yao, X. (2021). Environmental regulation, green technology innovation, and industrial structure upgrading: The road to the green transformation of Chinese cities. Energy Economics, 98, 105247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105247
Galgóczi, B. (2014). The long and winding road from black to green: Decades of structural change in the Ruhr region. International Journal of Labour Research, 6(2), 217–240.
Klineberg, S. L. (2020). Prophetic city: Houston on the cusp of a changing America. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Lai, A., Yang, Z., & Cui, L. (2021). Market segmentation impact on industrial transformation: Evidence for environmental protection in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 297, 126607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126607
Larraín, M. (2015). Capital account opening and wage inequality. The Review of Financial Studies, 28(6), 1555–1587. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhu088
Levinsohn, J., & Petrin, A. (2003). Estimating production functions using inputs to control for unobservables. The Review of Economic Studies, 70(2), 317–341. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-937X.00246
Li, B., Yue, Y., & Chen, T. (2016). Export and innovation: Empirical evidence from patent data at firm level. The Journal of World Economy, 39(12), 72–94.
Li, H., Long, R., & Chen, H. (2013). Economic transition policies in Chinese resource-based cities: An overview of government efforts. Energy Policy, 55, 251–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.12.007
Li, J., Tian, Y., Zhang, Y., & Xie, K. (2022). Assessing spatially multistage carbon transfer in the life cycle of energy with a novel multi-flow and multi-node model: A case of China's coal-to-electricity chain. Journal of Cleaner Production, 339, 130699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.130699
Li, M., & Guan, S. (2022). Does China's state-owned sector lead industrial transformation and upgrading? Journal of Cleaner Production, 338, 130412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.130412
Li, Q., Liu, S., Yang, M., & Xu, F. (2021). The effects of China's sustainable development policy for resource-based cities on local industrial transformation. Resources Policy, 71, 101940. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101940
Li, R., & Chen, Y. (2022). The influence of a green credit policy on the transformation and upgrading of heavily polluting enterprises: A diversification perspective. Economic Analysis and Policy, 74, 539–552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2022.03.009
Li, S., Wang, M., & Zhang, D. (2022). Total factor productivity growth at the firm-level: The effects of capital account liberalization. Journal of International Economics, 139, 103676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2022.103676
Lin, B., & Zhu, R. (2021). Energy efficiency of the mining sector in China: What are the main influence factors? Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 167, 105321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105321
Liu, B., Wang, J., Jing, Z., & Tang, Q. (2020). Measurement of sustainable transformation capability of resource-based cities based on fuzzy membership function: A case study of Shanxi Province, China. Resources Policy, 68, 101739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101739
Liu, Q., & Lu, Y. (2015). Firm investment and exporting: Evidence from China's value-added tax reform. Journal of International Economics, 97, 392–403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2015.07.003
Luo, S., Sun, Y., Yang, F., & Zhou, G. (2022). Does fintech innovation promote enterprise transformation? Evidence from China. Technology in Society, 68, 101821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101821
Mao, W., Wang, W., Sun, H., Yao, P., Wang, X., & Luo, D. (2021). Urban industrial transformation patterns under natural resource dependence: A rule mining technique. Energy Policy, 156, 112383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112383
Ngai, L. R., & Pissarides, C. A. (2007). Structural change in a multisector model of growth. American Economic Review, 97(1), 429–443. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.97.1.429
Olley, G. S., & Pakes, A. (1996). The dynamics of productivity in the telecommunications equipment industry. Econometrica, 64(6), 1263–1297. https://doi.org/10.2307/2171831
Peng, J., Xie, R., Ma, C., & Fu, Y. (2021). Market-based environmental regulation and total factor productivity: Evidence from Chinese enterprises. Economic Modelling, 95, 394–407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2020.03.006
Raymond, W., Mairesse, J., Mohnen, P., & Palm, F. (2015). Dynamic models of R&D, innovation and productivity: Panel data evidence for Dutch and French manufacturing. European Economic Review, 78, 285–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2015.06.002
Rodrik, D., Subramanian, A., & Trebbi, F. (2004). Institutions rule: The primacy of institutions over geography and integration in economic development. Journal of Economic Growth, 9(2), 131–165. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOEG.0000031425.72248.85
Sachs, J. D., & Warner, A. M. (1995). Natural resource abundance and economic growth. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w5398
Sachs, J. D., & Warner, A. M. (1997). Sources of slow growth in African economies. Journal of African Economies, 6, 335–376. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jae.a020932
Sachs, J. D., & Warner, A. M. (1999). The big push, natural resource booms and growth. Journal of Development Economics, 59(1), 43–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3878(99)00005-X
Smith, B. (2015). The resource curse exorcised: Evidence from a panel of countries. Journal of Development Economics, 116, 57–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.04.001
Solow, R. M. (1957). Technical change and the aggregate production function. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 39(3), 312–320. https://doi.org/10.2307/1926047
Sun, T., Lu, Y., & Cheng, L. (2020). Implementation effect of resource-exhausted cities' supporting policies, long-term mechanism and industrial upgrading. China Industrial Economics, 07, 98–116.
Tang, H., Liu, J., & Wu, J. (2020). The impact of command-and-control environmental regulation on enterprise total factor productivity: A quasi-natural experiment based on China's 'Two Control Zone' policy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 254, 120011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120011
Van der Ploeg, F. (2010). Challenges and opportunities for resource rich economies. CEPR Discussion Papers, 5688. https://cepr.org/publications/dp5688
Wang, J., & Liu, B. (2014). Environmental regulation and enterprises' TFP—An empirical analysis based on China's industrial enterprises data. China Industrial Economics, 03, 44–56.
Wang, K., Wu, M., Sun, Y., Shi, X., Sun, A., & Zhang, P. (2019). Resource abundance, industrial structure, and regional carbon emissions efficiency in China. Resources Policy, 60, 203–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.01.001
Wang, X., Zhang, T., Nathwani, J., Yang, F., & Shao, Q. (2022). Environmental regulation, technology innovation, and low carbon development: Revisiting the EKC hypothesis, Porter hypothesis, and Jevons' paradox in China's iron & steel industry. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 176, 121471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121471
Xie, R., & Teo, T. S. H. (2022). Green technology innovation, environmental externality, and the cleaner upgrading of industrial structure in China: Considering the moderating effect of environmental regulation. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 184, 122020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122020
Yu, J., Zhang, Z., & Zhou, Y. (2008). The sustainability of China’s major mining cities. Resources Policy, 33, 12–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2007.10.001
Yu, W., Peng, Y., & Yao, X. (2022). The effects of China's supporting policy for resource-exhausted cities on local energy efficiency: An empirical study based on 284 cities in China. Energy Economics, 112, 106165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2022.106165
Yu, Y., Sun, P., & Xuan, Y. (2020). Do constraints on local governments' environmental targets affect industrial transformation and upgrading? Economic Research Journal, 55(08), 57–72.
Yuan, H., & Zhu, C. (2018). Do national high-tech zones promote the transformation and upgrading of China's industrial structure. China Industrial Economics, 08, 60–77.
Zhang, H., Xiong, L., Li, L., & Zhang, S. (2018). Political incentives, transformation efficiency and resource-exhausted cities. Journal of Cleaner Production, 196, 1418–1428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.093
Zheng, X., Wu, C., & Nepal, R. (2022). Did the administrative approval reform in China affect the productivity of energy firms? A quasi-natural experimental approach. Energy Economics, 105, 105564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105564
Zhu, J., & Lin, B. (2022). Resource dependence, market-oriented reform, and industrial transformation: Empirical evidence from Chinese cities. Resources Policy, 78, 102914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.102914