How can China’s coal cities achieve high-quality development?—An empirical study based on the “resource curse” hypothesis

The relationship between the utilization of natural resources and high-quality economic growth has always been a concern of the academic community. China’s coal cities to varying degrees suffer from population outflow, economic stagnation or even negative growth, precipitous drop in housing prices, serious environmental damage, and other problems. There is a negative correlation from the perspective of location between the enrichment of coal resources and economic development in China, confirming the existence of coal “resource curse” in China’s interprovincial scope. Through establishing quantitative models. This article analyzes the transmission mechanism of the nonlinear impact of coal industry development on regional total factor productivity (TFP) from the 2 paths of industrial structure evolution and factor allocation efficiency. The sample panel data of 44 coal cities in China from 2003 to 2017 are examined to empirically test the impact of coal industry development in China’s coal cities on TFP and its transmission mechanism. In the coal industry development, the service industry is being squeezed out to some degree, while the manufacturing industry is suffered from “double deindustrialization” and severe shrinkage. Such an industrial structure transformation is one of the transmission paths of “resource curse.” The development of human capital (HC) and finance has a threshold effect on the impact of the coal industry development on the TFP of coal cities. The excessive growth of coal industry has a restraining effect on the development level of HC and finance that influences the efficiency of resource allocation, resulting in failure of such industries to promote the TFP. With the improvement of HC and finance sectors in coal cities, the development of coal industry has promoted the TFP. Therefore, this article holds that the government should aim at improving the efficiency of factor allocation, formulate scientific and reasonable industrial adjustment policies, upgrade industrial structure, and actively develop manufacturing and producer services. Meanwhile, in the process of coal city development, it should pay attention to improving HC input, actively develop green finance industry to promote the development of capital market, and promote the green transformation of coal industry. Actively develop new sources of energy. The sustainable development of coal cities should be guided according to different life cycle stages in order to achieve healthy and sustainable development and break the “resource curse.”