Ecological welfare performance, industrial agglomeration and technological innovation: an empirical study based on Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta

In order to achieve sustainable urbanization development, it is crucial to enhance social well-being within limited ecological resources. Industrial agglomeration (IA) and technological innovation (TEI) are considered as important factors affecting eco-efficiency. This paper constructs a two-stage Super-NSBM model to measure the ecological welfare performance (EWP) of 48 major cities in the urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta from 2009 to 2018, a PVAR model is also constructed to explore the relationship between industrial agglomeration (TEI), technological innovation (IA) and ecological welfare performance. The results show that: Ecological welfare performance increases year by year, and the ecological welfare performance of the production development stage (EWP1) is lower than that of the welfare development stage (EWP2). Technological innovation and industrial agglomeration have a two-way interaction, and the effects of both on ecological welfare performance have regional differences. In the short term, industrial agglomeration most significantly inhibits the ecological welfare performance of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, while technological innovation promotes the ecological welfare performance of the three major urban agglomerations; In the long term, the promoting effects of industrial agglomeration and technological innovation on ecological welfare performance gradually weaken, which are very obvious in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta. This study has practical implications for optimizing industrial agglomeration patterns, improving technological innovation capacity and ecological welfare performance, and achieving high-quality sustainable development of urban agglomerations.