Does an increased synergy in an industry’s subsystems impact on industrial development? The case of the Fisheries industry in China

Abstract This paper develops and uses a system synergy evaluation index which combines the Fisheries industry “outcome subsystem” with its “factors flow subsystem”. The index measures the degree of synergy of these two subsystems of the Chinese Fisheries industry at the provincial level. The index is used in an empirical analysis that aims at modeling the economic development, measured as gross value-added, of the Chinese Fisheries industries in 29 Chinese provinces. Specifically, based on a dynamic panel data model, the econometric part of the paper investigates whether an improved synergy between the subsystems can spur gross value-added per worker of the Fisheries industry. From a policy perspective, the study aims at assisting policy makers in their attempt to empower a high-quality development of the Fisheries industry in China. The results show that the degree of subsystem synergy can effectively boost gross value-added per worker of the Fisheries industry for Chinese inland provinces. These provinces show a low level of system synergy. Thus, they need to put efforts into improving the system synergy to spur the development of their Fisheries industries. For coastal provinces, with already moderate levels of synergies, the paper is unable to isolate an association between improvements in system synergy and economic development.