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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Towards the Road of Eco-efficiency
Enhancement: The Case of China's Ecological
Civilization Demonstration Areas
1
College of Economics, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, China
2
Sichuan Polytechnic University, Deyang 618000, China
3
College of Historical Culture&Tourism, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, China
4
School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830047, China
5
College of Finance and Taxation, Xinjiang University of Finance & Economics, Urumqi 830047, China
6
Business School, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
7
School of Law and Sociology, Xihua University, Chengdu, China
8
College of Culture and Tourism Chengdu Polytechnic, Chengdu, China
Submission date: 2024-04-25
Final revision date: 2024-10-04
Acceptance date: 2024-11-07
Online publication date: 2025-03-28
Publication date: 2026-01-29
Corresponding author
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2026;35(1):423-440
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This study systematically investigates the impact of ecological civilization demonstration areas
on eco-efficiency, utilizing the difference-in-differences method based on a dataset comprising 114
resource-based cities in China spanning the years 2006 to 2020. The results uncover a pattern where
eco-efficiency is observed to be higher in eastern China and lower in western China, with an overall
trend exhibiting fluctuating upward movement. Furthermore, the establishment of ecological civilization
demonstration areas is found to exert a positive influence on enhancing eco-efficiency, notably via the
channel of technological innovation. Additionally, the effects of ecological civilization demonstration
areas on eco-efficiency exhibit significant variation across different zones and city characteristics,
indicating the presence of divergent features.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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