Identifying the evolution of ecological poverty alleviation efficiency and its influencing factors: evidence from counties in Northeast China

Ecological poverty alleviation (EPA) is an effective strategy to address the vicious circle of poverty and environmental destruction in poor areas. However, it remains controversial whether this strategy has really succeeded in this respect. Previous research investigated the impact of a certain factor on EPA, and only few studies integrated them to explore their differential effects, thereby overlooking the complexity of EPA. Therefore, this study quantified the overall efficiency of the EPA strategies of 28 poor counties in three provinces of Northeast China from 2005 to 2018 by using a super-efficiency slacks-based measure model. This model can take into account undesirable outputs; as such, it has significant advantages in measuring the coordination among economic and social development and environmental protection. The Tobit model was used to explore the factors influencing EPA efficiency. The results show that, first, the majority of counties investigated had an EPA efficiency below the overall national average. Second, as for the factors influencing EPA efficiency, it was found that (1) GDP per capita and investment in environmental governance favored EPA efficiency, as they are conducive to stimulating regional consumption dynamics and achieving green economic development; (2) science and technology expenditure and urbanization were not conducive to EPA efficiency; and (3) industrial structure and trade had insignificant effects on EPA efficiency, due to the small scale of industry and the inadequacy of the policy system. This study assessed EPA efficiency from a holistic perspective, and addressed the controversies over EPA's influencing factors, thereby providing an effective method to conduct regional EPA assessment and improve EPA performance in poor regions of China.