Abstract
INTRODUCTIONS: The cultural industry is pivotal in promoting sustainable economic development. This study aims to evaluate the economic efficiency of the cultural industry in Jiangsu Province by establishing a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model and analyzing influencing factors using the Tobit model, all within the broader context of China's cultural industry. METHODS: A DEA model was developed to assess the economic efficiency of the cultural industry across Chinese provinces, allowing for a comparative analysis of performance. The Tobit regression model was utilized to investigate factors influencing these efficiency outcomes, with a particular emphasis on inter-provincial comparisons to understand the position and challenges faced by Jiangsu's cultural industry. RESULTS: Despite Jiangsu's cultural industry ranking among the largest in scale nationally, its economic efficiency is only moderate, consistently experiencing diminishing returns to scale. The study identifies low scale efficiency, small enterprise size, and suboptimal urbanization processes within the province as the main issues. DISCUSSION: The inefficiencies highlighted by the DEA model suggest a misalignment between the scale of operations and the economic outputs in Jiangsu's cultural industry. Urbanization emerges as a crucial factor, with current practices not sufficiently supporting the growth potential of the cultural sector. CONCLUSION: Based on these findings, the study proposes targeted policy recommendations for Jiangsu, including avoiding blind scale expansion, adjusting industrial structures, encouraging enterprise consolidation and optimization, and identifying new growth areas to better support the cultural industry's development and contribute to sustainable economic progress.