Does energy resource misallocation affect energy utilization efficiency? Evidence from Chinese provincial panel data

Along with the rapid development of society, the position of energy has become more prominent in recent years. However, energy resource misallocation has been a common phenomenon, which has been a brake on energy efficiency promotion and regional low-carbon development. Therefore, this study serves to investigate interprovincial energy resource misallocation in China across five typical industries from 2003 to 2017 by an improved Gini Coefficient method. Then a panel data model is built to explore whether energy resource misallocation has a significant impact on energy efficiency. Results show that the national energy resource misallocation index, on average, fell from 0.461 in 2003 to 0.363 in 2017, presenting a decreasing trend, which means that China's interprovincial energy resource misallocation has been effectively alleviated. Furthermore, we find that the energy resource misallocation has a significant negative effect on interprovincial energy efficiency. More specifically, a 1 % decrease in the energy resource misallocation index causes a 0.268 % increase in energy efficiency. In addition, the urbanization level, industrial structure, and the proportion of fossil energy could inhibit the improvement of energy efficiency, while the increase in economic level could exert a positive effect on the growth of energy efficiency.