Research on green development measurement and regional differences in the China's Yellow River Basin based on the ecological function orientation

The ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin have become a national strategy. This study takes 57 cities in the Yellow River Basin as research samples, employs the green total factor productivity (GTFP) to characterizes the level of green development, introduces an improved mixed distance (MEBM) Windows model and an algorithm containing the background differences to measure the level of green development, and further uses the Dagum Gini coefficient to analyze the regional differences. It shows that the level of green development of Yellow River Basin exhibits a downward trend during the study period when the ecological function orientation (EFO) is not considered, however, the downward trend is significantly narrowed when the EFO is considered, and 91.23% of the sample rankings is changed. According to these results, the study samples are divided into three types: the controlled development zones, the moderate development zones, and the transition development zones. The inter-regional differences are the main factors that causes the regional differences in the green development of Yellow River Basin. Based on the results, we propose the relevant policy recommendations that can provide a decision-making basis for promoting the ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin according to the local conditions.