Multidimensional performance assessment, government competition and ecological welfare performance.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Economics
• Sustainable Development Studies
• Public Policy Analysis

Background:

• Improving natural resource conversion into social benefits is crucial for global sustainable development.
• Ecological Welfare Performance (EWP) is a key metric for assessing this efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To measure the ecological welfare performance (EWP) of Chinese provinces from 2005-2019.
• To explore the impact of government competition under different assessment systems on EWP.
• To propose a multidimensional appraisal system for optimizing EWP.

Main Methods:

• Application of the super-efficient Slack-Based Model (SBM) with non-expected outputs to measure EWP.
• Utilizing spatial Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to analyze the relationship between government competition and EWP.
• Incorporating economic and ecological appraisal systems into a multidimensional framework.

Main Results:

• Economic performance assessment-driven government competition negatively impacts current and future EWP.
• Environmental assessment-driven government competition positively influences EWP in both short and long terms.
• A multidimensional appraisal system (with economic to ecological weights between 1:9 and 3:7) promotes EWP without negative spatial spillovers.

Conclusions:

• Government competition's effect on EWP is contingent on the assessment system.
• Environmental and balanced multidimensional assessments are superior for fostering sustainable EWP.
• Policy recommendations emphasize integrating diverse appraisal metrics to enhance ecological welfare.