Research on China's marine economic growth pattern: An empirical analysis of China's eleven coastal regions

The development of China's marine economy has never been more challenging due to serious problems such as the waste of marine resources, pollution of the marine environment and uneven development in the region. Therefore, the study of China's marine economic growth pattern has great significance and may ensure the sustainable development of the marine economy. This study utilizes data on China's eleven coastal regions from 2006 to 2014 and applies the Cobb-Douglas production function and the Solow residual method to evaluate the contribution rate of the total factor productivity of the marine economy of China's coastal regions. To more objectively illustrate the marine economic growth pattern, this paper introduces the intensive coefficient of marine economic growth. The results indicate that the contribution rate of the total factor productivity of the marine economy of China showed a slightly rising trend from 2006 to 2014, and its average growth rate increased from − 0.58% to 3.39% between 2006 and 2014. China's coastal regions differed in their contributions to the total factor productivity of the marine economy. During the same period, the main driving factor of marine economic growth was factor inputs and China's marine economic growth pattern was still extensive. In terms of regions, although most coastal regions in China experienced extensive growth, the extent of the growth of the marine economy of China's coastal regions has declined after the pilot projects implemented by the Chinese government in 2012.