Research on the spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of green economic efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

In the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), the green economy is an essential to sustainable economic development. In this study, we calculated a comprehensive index of environmental pollution based on the global entropy weight method and used the super slacks-based measure (SBM) model to estimate the green economic efficiency (GEE) of provinces and cities in the YREB from 2005 to 2018. Subsequently, we explored temporal and spatial evolution characteristics combined with the Theil and Moran indexes, and adopted the spatial Dubin model to analyze its influencing factors. We divided the YREB into three watersheds to facilitate the analysis. The results show that the GEE in the YREB initially decreased and then increased, and the difference among the three major watersheds was higher than that within the watershed. We found a positive spatial autocorrelation in the development level of the green economy in the YREB. While industrial structure had a negative effect, economic development, scientific and technological level, and environmental regulation all had a positive effect on GEE. Finally, we offered policy recommendations to improve the level of green development in the YREB.