Probe - Accounting, Auditing and Taxation

Efficiency measurement, regional differences, and convergence of financial development driving new quality productive forces

Xu Wang

Anhui University of Finance and Economics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.59429/paat.v8i3.15708

Keywords: financial development; new quality productive forces; SBM-DEA model; Dagum Gini coefficient; spatial Markov chain

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Abstract

Developing new quality productive forces is a core focus of China's high-quality development. This paper treats financial development as an input and new quality productive forces as an output, and measures the conversion efficiency and its regional differences and convergence using panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2024. An SBM-DEA model with undesirable outputs is used, combined with Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition, spatial Markov chains, and beta convergence models. The results show that interprovincial conversion efficiency is generally at an upper-middle level; most eastern provinces remain near the efficient frontier, while central and western provinces fluctuate sharply and lack sustained improvement. The regional difference pattern has shifted from cross-overlapping to gradient differentiation, with between-subgroup differences becoming dominant. The spatial Markov chain confirms a high-neighbor enhancement effect, but hierarchical rigidity remains. Beta convergence is significant, although the high convergence speed partly reflects mean reversion of super-efficiency values rather than steady-state catch-up.

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