Transformation effect of resource-based cities based on PSM-DID model: An empirical analysis from China

• DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2021.106648
• Publication Date: 2021-07-28T21:39:43Z
• Authors: Fei Fan; Xuerong Zhang
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 11. Sustainability; 1. No poverty; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences; 12. Responsible consumption

Abstract Promoting sustainable development in resource-based cities is required to accelerate transformative economic development, which also can promote harmonious development and accelerate progress of industrialization while playing a critical role in China's urbanization. However, the role of regional sustainable development plans within resource-based cities is unclear. This paper selected 87 resource-based cities as the treated group, matching propensity scores of city characteristics on a total of 253 cities in China from 2008 to 2018. The paper used the difference-in-differences method to evaluate the impact of the implementation of the “National Plan for Resource-based City Sustainable Development (2013-2020)”, measuring six years before and five years post-planning implementation. We found: (1) The implementation of the plan has promoted economic, social, and ecological transformation by 19.6%, 55.4% and 74.5% respectively (p