A New Perspective on Raising Energy Efficiency: A Test Based on Market Segmentation

A comparison of the facts at the micro- and macro-level indicates that although some Chinese enterprises are at the international frontier in terms of micro-level energy efficiency, overall energy efficiency at the industrial and national level is seriously lagging behind. Hypotheses based on a market segmentation framework indicate that this is because market segmentation inhibits energy efficiency through its effect on technical efficiency, scale efficiency and allocation efficiency. This effect has been demonstrated by empirical research based on Chinese provincial panel data.