Evaluation of the synergy degree of industrial de-capacity policies based on text mining: A case study of China's coal industry

The problem of overcapacity has become a serious concern, restricting the development of China's economy. Furthermore, the synergy of the de-capacity policy, which is overlooked by the existing research, is a key factor affecting overcapacity governance. Therefore, based on the policy synergy theory, this study innovatively constructs a collaborative evaluation framework and a quantitative model for coal de-capacity policies from horizontal, vertical, and temporal dimensions. In addition, text mining and a quantitative analysis of the collected coal de-capacity policies from 2009 to 2020 are conducted. The results show that the overall degree of synergy in China's coal de-capacity policy is relatively low; in particular, local governments tend to focus on the “self” and “now” when formulating coal de-capacity policies. In regional terms, the synergy degree of the central and local governments significantly differ in each dimension, and the synergy degree in all dimensions of the local government is significantly lower than that of the central government. In dimension terms, compared with horizontal and vertical synergy, temporal synergy has the most significant impact on the comprehensive synergy of de-capacity policies. The above results provide a new decision-making reference for the formulation, design, and optimization of de-capacity policies in China's economy—especially the coal industry.