High-quality development efficiency in Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration: analysis of spatiotemporal evaluation and influencing factors

High-quality development, the coordination of development quality and efficiency, has been an essential development pattern in China. However, few studies focus on the evaluation and multi-perspective analysis of high-quality development efficiency (HQDE). The coordinated development of urban agglomeration is an important development strategy of China in the new era. Therefore, it is essential to construct an applicable evaluation and analysis framework of HQDE to provide scientific reference for promoting the realization of high-quality and highly efficient development of urban agglomerations. Thus, we added the economic dimension to the theoretical framework of the "new development philosophy" to establish a multi-dimensional input-output framework for evaluating the HQDE of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA) from 2011 to 2020. Also, a comprehensive analysis framework is proposed to analyze the HQDE. Firstly, the super-efficiency-SBM model is adopted to measure the HQDE for temporal analysis. Secondly, the traditional Markov chain and spatial Markov chain are applied to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of HQDE. Thirdly, the Theil index is utilized to decompose the sources of regional differences. Furthermore, the Tobit model is applied to investigate the six influencing factors of HQDE. Based on the above theoretical framework, this paper finds that the HQDE has a decreasing trend in 2020. Spatial distribution analysis indicates that although cities with high efficiency have a potential spillover effect to the neighboring cities, there still exists a "club convergence effect" in YRDUA, and it is difficult to leap across the HQDE levels. Regional differences analysis finds that the intra-regional differences are the main sources of overall differences. Regression analysis shows that economic development and economic openness can promote the HQDE, while scientific and technological innovation, element endowment, energy consumption and environmental pollution have negative impacts on urban HQDE. Finally, some theoretical and practical implications are proposed.