Can Financial Development Improve Energy Efficiency? Based on SBM-Undesirable Model and Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis.

To explore the effect of financial development on energy efficiency is of guiding significance for grasping China's energy situation and making fiscal policies. First, this paper considers the environmental pollution into the output variables, and builds an SBM model to evaluate the energy efficiency. Second, this paper explores the dual effect of financial development on energy efficiency, and based on the interaction characteristics of multiple factors, the configuration of energy efficiency is discussed by using fsQCA method. The results are as follows: there are obvious differences in energy efficiency in different regions, with a declining trend from eastern to western. Regions that achieve high energy efficiency tend to have better financial development and industrial structure. When financial development and industrial structure are relatively good, regions should consider the role of FDI and give full play to its spillover effect. Regardless of financial development, regions should steadily achieve economic growth, attach importance to innovation input and correctly guide foreign investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]