Industrial eco-efficiency and its spatial-temporal differentiation in China

The aim of this paper is to study the spatialtemporal differentiation of industrial eco-efficiency in China. Using methods based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and data from 1985, 1995, 2005, and 2008 of 30 provinces in China, the spatial-temporal pattern changes in industrial eco-efficiency are discussed. The results show that: first, the patterns of industrial eco-efficiency are dominated by clustering of relatively low efficiency provinces; second, spatial relationships between the industrial eco-efficiencies of different provinces changed slightly throughout the period and the provinces persistently exhibit spatial concentration of relatively low industrial eco-efficiency; finally, there is an obvious trend in the polarization of industrial eco-efficiency, i.e., the higher level spatial units are concentrated in eastern China, and the lower level spatial units are mainly in western and central China.