The estimation of the value of natural capital in production has always been a difficult point in economic analysis,which has not received sufficient attention for a long time. Since many kinds of natural capital have no cost to be priced, there is an over-utilization in production. Natural capital has not been fully restored, reflecting a growth pattern at the expense of the environment.Employing a production function which contains the natural capital as a factor of production, we estimated the value of natural capital utilization in China from 1993 to 2017.
Results/Conclusions
The cumulative natural capital utilization amount is 100,346,340 million yuan. In the same period, the ratio of China's sustainable economic output to total output was 96.67% per year. After 2016, the proportion of China's sustainable economic output to total output has exceeded 99%, close to 100%. The pollution generated by economic activities has been basically controlled, but the environment quality has not yet entered the improvement stage. The decline in environmental quality forces people to change the way they develop economics and increase the extent and efficiency of their environmental protection investment.