Booster or Killer? Research on Undertaking Transferred Industries and Residents’ Well-Being Improvements

Inter-regional industrial transfers would change the economic, societal, and ecological environment of the undertaking area profoundly. Some experts have recognized the ecological and environmental problems caused by industrial transfers. However, there are few studies on whether undertaking an industrial transfer will ultimately improve the well-being of residents. There is a strong application value for exploring this issue under the domestic cycle in China. This paper uses the shift-share analysis method to measure China’s inter-provincial industrial transfer from 2004 to 2019. According to the subjective and objective indicators, the article measures the level of residents’ well-being. A spatial econometric model is used to empirically test the impact of undertaking transferred industries on residents’ well-being and its mechanism. The results show that: 1. There is a significant spatial positive correlation between the well-being of residents at the national level. The empirical results also indicated significant spatial correlations at the level of the three major economic belts in the east, central, west, and northeast; 2. From the perspective of China as a whole, the inter-regional industrial transfer improved the well-being of the residents significantly, but the indirect negative effect reduced the total effect; 3. From the regional perspective, undertaking a transferred industry could significantly improve the well-being of residents in the central and eastern regions. However, in the northeast and western regions, it showed a serious negative effect. We should enhance the orderly transfer of industries deeply, considering the ecological and environmental capacities of the undertaking area fully and strictly limiting the inter-regional transfer of polluting industries. Only in this way could the government improve the well-being of residents in the industrial transfer-out areas and undertake areas effectively.