Regional gaps and convergence analysis of logistics industry's green welfare effects in China

In recent years, logistics industry has been developing quickly in China, and playing a vital role in national economy and society. Meanwhile the logistics industry also brought about carbon emission from the moving trucks, and the wasted corrugated boxes, preventing from establishing green ecosystem associated with better life environment. This paper considers livelihood elements and designs a set of indicators evaluating the green welfare effect of the logistics industry including three dimensions of economic, social and ecological welfare. Using the entropy evaluation method to measure the panel data of China's 30 provinces and cities during 2013-2021, and further adopts the Gini coefficient decomposition method to decompose the regional gaps and explore the reasons for regional gaps. The findings show that: the logistics industry’s welfare level in the eight economic zones as a whole is on an upward trend and shows obvious regional non-equilibrium characteristics; there is a significant spatial heterogeneity of the logistics industry’s green welfare effects among the eight economic zones, and the average annual contribution of interregional disparities reaches 72.3%, which is the main cause of regional disparities. This article aims to provide theoretical guidance for narrowing regional gaps in the logistics industry’s green welfare level and promoting the coordinated regional development of logistics industry.