Producer Services Agglomeration and Carbon Emission Reduction—An Empirical Test Based on Panel Data from China

Abstract

Although China has a high rate of economic development, it still faces the problems of unstable industrial structure, low industrial level, and large carbon emissions, which pose huge challenges to China’s sustainable development. China is working hard to develop producer services to achieve industrial transformation and reduce carbon emissions. In this context, there is an extremely urgent need to conduct academic research on changes in producer service agglomeration and carbon emissions. Whether the producer service industry has agglomeration characteristics, and whether the producer service industry affects carbon emissions through multiple paths, are issues worthy of attention. Therefore, this paper takes China as the research area, selects the provincial administrative unit as the research sample, and conducts research on these issues by using exploratory spatial data analysis methods and various spatial econometric models under the guidance of the relevant theories of new economic geography. Our research finds that producer services have significant spatial agglomeration characteristics, and they also have significant spatial differentiation patterns. In addition, the agglomeration of producer services can significantly promote the reduction of carbon emissions and can show obvious spillover effects. Finally, in response to the research conclusions of this paper, we also put forward countermeasures and suggestions from the perspective of the common development of producer service industry and manufacturing industry, hoping to promote China’s transformation from industrial economy to service economy, to maximize the use of producer service industry accumulated dividends.