Threshold effects in the relationship between internet development and express delivery industry environmental efficiency.

Improving the express industry's environmental efficiency is of practical significance to green and sustainable economic development. The development of internet may help achieve this goal. However, previous studies have not provided a consistent result about the relationship between internet development and the express industry's environmental efficiency. This paper provides a deeper understanding of this relationship by analyzing the threshold effects from the perspectives of road network density, openness to international trade and competition, and e-commerce level. Based on Chinese provincial data from 2012 to 2017, we first use a range directional data envelopment analysis model to evaluate the express industry environmental efficiency. Then, a threshold model is constructed to analyze the threshold effects in the relationship between internet development and environmental efficiency. The results show that: (1) The impact of internet development on the express industry's environmental efficiency shows a single threshold effect as road network density increases, which indicates that internet development significantly improves that environmental efficiency when the road network density is above a threshold value. (2) The impact of internet development on express industry environmental performance shows a dual-threshold effect as the degree of openness increases. (3) There is also a dual-threshold effect in this relationship as the proportion of e-commerce business transactions increases, but this effect is not significant. Based on these results, suggestions are given for the express industry to improve its environmental efficiency in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]