Table 1 Relationship between the NBES and economic diversification theories.
From: Export diversification in the national blue economic system: a case study of China
Level | Related theory | Relationship |
|---|---|---|
Theoretical framework level | Theory of industrial structure transformation | Driving the transfer of labor and capital: The NBES promotes the transfer of labor from traditional agriculture/resource mining industries to diversified marine industries by developing industries such as fisheries and aquaculture, marine energy, and coastal manufacturing, and optimizes the marine industry chain through technological upgrades. |
Resource curse theory | Breaking the trap of single dependence: The traditional marine economy is prone to fall into the curse of “over-exploitation of fisheries” or “oil and gas dependence”. The NBES reduces overdependence on a single marine resource through diversification and avoids the resource curse. | |
New structural economics | Endowment-oriented industry selection: Coastal countries choose matching industries (e.g., the Maldives focusing on marine tourism) based on their marine resource endowments. | |
Growth drivers level | Endogenous growth theory | Knowledge spillover and innovation-driven: Through knowledge innovation, capacity accumulation and policy support, the NBES applies the core logic of endogenous growth theory to marine scenarios, achieves economic diversification and promotes sustainable development. |
Economic complexity theory | Technology-intensive path: The NBES enhances the resilience of the blue economy by developing high-complexity industries (e.g., marine engineering equipment and blue carbon economy), avoids low-end lock-in, and uses the ‘product space’ model to identify opportunities for marine industrial upgrading. | |
Industrial cluster theory | Geographic agglomeration effect: Marine industrial clusters (e.g., Singapore’s shipping-finance cluster and China’s Zhoushan’s fishery-processing-trade cluster) reduce costs and improve competitiveness through synergy effects. | |
Institutional and path level | Evolutionary economics | Breaking the ‘ocean lock’: Countries that have long relied on traditional fisheries (e.g., Peru) need policy intervention (e.g., subsidy transformation and technical training) to shift to sustainable industries. |
Institutional economics | Property rights and governance innovation: The NBES needs to clarify the property rights of marine resources (e.g., fishery quotas and sea area use rights) to avoid the ‘tragedy of the commons’. | |
Region and sustainability level | Regional development theory | Core-periphery linkage: Coastal core areas (e.g., the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area) radiate inland through the NBES, such as logistics networks driving inland trade. |
Sustainable development theory | Green diversification path: The NBES requires the coordination of economic diversification and ecological protection, such as the development of blue carbon economy (e.g., mangrove restoration) and circular economy (e.g., ship recycling). |
