Sustainability, Vol. 9, Pages 853: Low Carbon Economy Performance Analysis with the Intertemporal Effect of Capital in China (Sustainability)

The `New Normal` of Chinese economy represents the importance of economic performance. To analyze the provincial performance of the low-carbon economy in China, this paper constructed a three-stage dynamic Malmquist model considering the evolutionary promotion of productivity and technical progress. This paper incorporates the lag effect of capital accumulation into the performance evaluation to ensure transitivity and continuity. Furthermore, the inefficiency of the low-carbon economy arises from the disadvantages of resources endowments; therefore, it is necessary to eliminate these to evaluate managerial performance. This paper not only evaluates the provincial performance of the low-carbon economy but also suggests the sources and impetus of regional low-carbon economy development to find feasible transition paths. The empirical results reveal that the performance of the low-carbon economy presents a gradient distribution with obvious distinctions among the eastern, central, and western regions. Tianjin and Hebei should emphasize the optimal allocation of their own resources. Jiangxi and Hunan, by contrast, should focus on the perfection of the resources endowments.