Environmental catching-up, eco-innovation, and technological leadership in China's pilot ecological civilization zones

- We propose a global metafrontier Luenberger productivity indicator (GMLPI).
- Using the GMLPI we study regional environmental total-factor productivity growth.
- We use county level data (2009-2013 period) in the Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone.
- Results show that environmental productivity growth increased by 8.71% on average.
- The environmental productivity growth was primarily driven by technological change.

In this study we propose a global metafrontier Luenberger productivity indicator (GMLPI) to investigate the effect of the establishment of the Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone (PLEEZ), one of China's typical ecological civilization zones, on regional environmental total-factor productivity growth. We combine the global environmental technology, metafrontier approach, and the non-radial Luenberger productivity indicator and incorporate the regional heterogeneities into the environmental productivity growth analysis. This GMLPI includes the efficiency change, technological change, and metafrontier technology gap change indices. An empirical study of the PLEEZ has been conducted using the county level data covering a period from 2009 to 2013. Empirical results show that the environmental productivity growth has increased by 8.71% on average, with growth primarily driven by technological change. These results suggest that the establishment of the PLEEZ is effective in encouraging eco-innovation; however the PLEEZ lacks an eco-leadership effect. Significant heterogeneities in environmental productivity growth and its patterns among three major functional zones in the PLEEZ remain.