Environmental total factor productivity and regional disparity in China

We apply Malmquist index to measure Environmental Total Factor Growth in a sample of 28 provinces and cities in China over the period 1992-2009 while the removal amount of COD and SO2 is regarded as the output for the first time, and analyze the impact of regional economic disparities on it from a different point of view. It is shown that, there is an inverted U-curve relation between GRP per capita and environmental total factor productivity growth, so the decrease of regional economic disparities will narrow the gap in productivity growth. Higher levels of industrialization lead to a decline in productivity growth, while population density and the degree of dependence on foreign trade have a significant positive effect, therefore China has not gone out of the extensive growth mode. In addition, the Lateral economic region division is instructive for regional economic and ecological problems. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.