The Role of Public Infrastructure in China's Regional Inequality and Growth: A Simultaneous Equations Approach

Using a simultaneous equations approach, this paper empirically investigates the impact of two types of public infrastructure, transportation infrastructure and knowledge infrastructure, on industrial geography, regional income disparities, and growth across 286 cities in China. It is found that an improvement in transportation infrastructure that reduces trade costs on goods increases growth and decreases income gap at the expense of increasing industrial agglomeration between cities. Therefore, this paper confirms the existence of a trade‐off between spatial equity (more even spatial distribution of economic activities) and spatial efficiency (higher growth rate). However, for knowledge infrastructure that reduces trade costs on ideas, it is found that it increases growth but also decreases income gap and industrial agglomeration simultaneously. Moreover, the impact of knowledge infrastructure is found to be larger in the case of high labor mobility.     

Chinese per Capita Income Distribution, 1992–2007: A Regional Perspective

This paper explores the regional per capita income distribution in China between 1992 and 2007. The spatial dependence present in the raw data is removed using a filtering technique. A non‐parametric approach is applied to the filtered data to show that regional inequalities have been roughly stable, the distribution shape has changed very little and mobility within the distribution has been relatively low. Finally, the paper investigates the impact of various economic and social factors on the evolution of regional income distribution. Primary sector employment, physical capital, trade openness and foreign direct investment are all found to be key determinants of regional income distribution.     

Do Inland Provinces Benefit from Coastal Foreign Direct Investment in China?

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China is heavily concentrated in the coastal regions. Do inland provinces benefit from coastal FDI? We use a provincial‐level panel dataset and employ the fixed‐effects instrumental variables regression technique to investigate the interregional spillovers from coastal FDI to inland provinces. The study finds that, on average, coastal FDI has a negative impact on the economic growth of inland provinces. In addition, depending on the different trade activities engaged in (i.e. whether processing trade or ordinary trade), coastal FDI has different impacts on the economic growth of inland provinces.     

Regional Economic Growth and Spillover Effects： An Analysis of China＇s Pan Pearl River Delta Area

The Pan Pearl River Delta(PPRD) Regional Co-operation Framework Agreement was signed in 2004.It aims to bring prosperity through partnership among nine Chinese Mainland provinces and China ’s two special administrative regions.In this paper,we use a dynamic panel data model to examine the economic growth of the PPRD economies from 1985 to 2009.Our analysis confirms the existence of regional growth spillover effects in the PPRD area.Our results also show that economic growth spillover effects of non-PPRD regions on the PPRD regions are greater than those among the PPRD members themselves.These findings imply that economic integration between Chinese provinces has generated considerable spillover effects on regional growth.However, the anticipated benefits of the implementation of the PPRD agreement have not been realized thus far.Therefore,greater effort should be made to promote further economic integration among these members so that their local economies can benefit from the positive spillover effects.     

City Size,Population Concentration and Productivity: Evidence from China

This paper investigates the impact of China's city size and urban population concentration on city productivity by developing a distinctive index based on global nighttime light data. Using the panel data of 280 prefecture cities from 2004 to 2013 and employing dynamic system generalized method of moments and panel threshold model regression techniques, our results show that city size has a positive impact on city productivity; therefore, cities in China still have the potential to expand. While moderate urban population concentration can benefit city productivity, excessively concentrated urban population distribution may impede the growth of city productivity. We also find that the level of labor income significantly affects the impacts of urban agglomeration on labor productivity. Therefore, our results imply that city development policies should focus more on how to appropriately allocate economic activities and adjust population distribution in urban areas according to different stages of economic development.     

中国31省市工业企业创新活力的评价

工业企业的创新活力是区域创新水平的重要表现.利用因子模型L对影响工业企业创新活力的7个二级指标提炼公因子,结果显示可以从研发活力与创新动力两个层面对中国31个省市的工业企业创新活力进行综合评价.模型表明:企业的研发投入与产出是影响创新活力的主要因素.通过K?mean聚类分析法,将中国31个省市的工业企业创新活力划分为"较高、一般、较低"3个层面,通过改善区域内企业的创新活动的交易成本,降低研发活动未来的不确定性风险,引进创新型人才将有助于提升区域内的工业企业的创新活力.     

中国八大综合经济区影子银行发展的动态演进

从相对数和绝对数指标出发,测算中国31个省区市影子银行发展水平,运用Kernel核密度估计研究2008—2020年中国影子银行发展水平八大综合经济区的分布动态演进。研究表明：中国影子银行整体发展水平逐年稳步上升,东部沿海综合经济区发展尤为明显,长江中游综合经济区影子银行发展速度最快;全国范围内影子银行发展水平不断提升,但区域发展不均衡程度未改善,其中东部沿海、黄河中游综合经济区空间差异最明显,北部沿海、西南、西北综合经济区呈缩小态势。     

我国中东部地区科技创新环境比较研究

构建我国中东部区域科技创新环境评价指标体系,采用因子分析方法计算21个省市的科技创新环境因子得分和综合得分,通过得分排序对评价结果和区域差异进行研究,对比地区人均GDP排序情况,认为区域科技创新环境优劣与区域经济发展水平存在一定的正相关关系。科技创新环境的优劣不同,呈现出区域发展不平衡状态。     

The Inequality of Regional Economic Development in China between 1991 and 2001

This paper measures the unequal development of the regional economies in China and investigates the primary factors leading to the inequality. The official data on China's regional GDP and the regional GDP of three industrial sectors from 1991–2001, as reported in the China Statistical Yearbook and A Statistical Survey of China, are adopted to calculate and decompose the Gini coefficient for each year. The primary finding is that the levels of inequality in China's regional economies clearly showed a slight upward trend after 1991. The inequality of the overall GDP is primarily attributed to the between-group effect rather than to the within-group effect. It is also found that the regional inequality of the secondary industry sector's development accounted for half of the overall inequality. Thus, this study suggests that it is crucial for China to formulate and adhere to policies that will help it to develop the economy more equally among all areas and to develop the secondary industry sector among all regions/provinces in order to overcome the important issue of the inequality in regional economic development.     

西部12省(区、市)经济发展战略定位比较及其评估

比较西部12省(区、市)的总体发展战略、经济发展战略、经济发展具体操作性方略的共性和差异性,可以发现:西部省(区、市)经济发展战略须与中央经济发展战略保持一致、契合当地总体发展战略的方向和思路、因应内外发展环境、符合当地发展实际。经济发展战略的基本框架涵盖"三化"政策、产业发展政策、区域协调发展政策、经济体制改革和对外开放政策、科技创新和人才队伍建设政策、基础配套政策、生态环保政策和特殊政策。在制定西部经济发展战略时,要用好用活用足中央给予的优惠政策;吸收其他省(区、市)经济发展战略和具体举措;促进省际联动;着力弥补经济发展中的"短板";成立多方组成的智库,使经济发展战略的制定更趋科学化;加强宣传,注重舆论引导;重视人才队伍建设;搞好配套建设。     

FDI对我国技术创新能力溢出的地区差异和门槛效应检验

本文利用1998～2006年中国省际面板数据模型对FDI在不同地区引发的技术创新溢出效应进行了检验,检验结果证实了FDI对我国创新能力的溢出存在较大的地区差异。并在此基础上,进一步从地区经济发展水平、人力资本状况、金融发展程度和经济结构四个方面对能够引发积极的创新溢出效应的各因素的门槛水平进行了具体测算。     

创新要素流动、空间溢出与经济增长

运用引力模型测度创新要素流动量,以2001—2017年中国31个省区市为研究对象,构建OLS模型和空间杜宾模型,分析创新要素流动对区域经济增长的影响。研究发现：创新要素的区际流动对地区经济增长有正向影响;创新要素流动除了能够促进当地经济的增长,还可以通过知识溢出影响邻近地区的经济发展;区域异质性结果表明,东中部地区的创新要素流动能促进经济增长,但西部地区不显著。最后提出加强区域间的经济联系合作、出台创新活动相关政策、发挥人力资本的作用等政策建议。     

Environmental Efficiency and the Optimal Size of Chinese Cities

The spatial distribution of population and economic activities has important impacts on both economic growth and the environment. This paper uses a slack‐based measure to estimate the total factor environmental efficiency (TFEE) of 286 Chinese prefectural‐and‐above cities for the period 2002–2013. In particular, the relationship between city size and TFEE is investigated. The findings also show an inverted U‐shaped relationship between TFEE and city size, which implies an optimal city size of 16.68 million residents in China. According to this estimate, most Chinese cities may be undersized due to the migration restrictions of the hukou registration system and, hence, suffer from great environmental efficiency losses. The estimated low average TFEE value of Chinese cities also suggests the large potential for efficiency improvement. Thus, government policies should focus on relaxing migration restrictions and encouraging the development of large cities.     

Provincial Output Spillovers in China： Global Vector Autoregressive Approach

The paper uses a global vector autoregressive model to examine provincial output spillover effects in China. We find that there are effective output spillovers from Guangdong, Liaoning and Zhejiang to other provinces in China, but trivial effects from Shanghai, Shandong, Sichuan and Xinjiang, and negative effects from Beijing. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Guangdong and Liaoning is the main channel for creating provincial output spillovers, compared with domestic investment and exports. However, FDI spillovers tend to decrease, with spillovers from exports and domestic investment rising over time, so that the spillover effects in Guangdong and Liaoning are non‐persistent and highly volatile. Other channels of output spillover, such as domestic investment, should be enhanced. Impacts of shock from government expenditure on GDP vary significantly across time and provinces; inland and western provinces are most negatively affected. The heterogeneous spillover structure shows that regional policies might achieve better results than nationwide policies in reducing regional disparity.     

我国高技术产业创新绩效与区域差异性研究

采用我国2000—2010年26省市的高技术产业面板数据,对国内研发、技术转移和国外技术溢出与高技术产业的创新绩效关系进行实证研究。同时,考虑到省市间经济发展水平和创新能力存在较大差异,又把26个省市按照经济发展水平划分为三个区域,分别考察各区域的创新绩效。研究发现,本国科研人员投入及技术转移对技术发明起到明显的促进作用,科研人员投入等本国要素及FDI、出口贸易等国外因素则对产业创新有较为显著的作用。各因素对不同收入水平的地区有明显的地区差异性:国内研发等要素投入对高收入地区的技术创新促进性作用比较明显,而FDI等因素对低收入地区整体创新能力均产生明显的积极效应。因此需要根据各地区的经济发展水平和创新能力制定相应的科技政策。     

我国区域创新环境不平衡发展研究

本文首先根据我国各地区区域创新环境的现状构建了一套系统的评价指标体系,然后利用因子分析法定量地对区域创新环境的省际差异进行了测度研究,结果显示我国的区域创新环境和创新效果在不同地区之间分布极不平衡。     

Opening up,Market Reform,and Convergence Clubs in China*

This paper evaluates the relationship between initial government policies and the emergence of convergence clubs in post‐reform China. We test the structural stability of a global convergence equation using China's provincial data over the period 1985–2000. We find that the provinces cluster around two basins of attraction defined by initial opening‐up. Domestic market reform exerts a positive and significant influence on provincial economic growth but has no threshold effect. The two convergence clubs exhibit strikingly different growth behaviors, suggesting that the roles of some growth‐promoting factors, such as human capital and infrastructure, depend on whether an openness threshold is passed.     

China’s inclusive development strategy and its effect on regional disparity

Abstract

In 2004, the Chinese Government declared an inclusive development strategy, ‘building a harmonious society’. This paper focuses on regional disparity issues and discusses three questions: (1) What are the background, goals and main tasks of China’s inclusive development strategy? (2) What changes have taken place in China’s regional development strategy under this inclusive development strategy? and (3) What is the recent impact of the regional development strategy on regional disparity in China? Our analysis’ results show that after the late 1970s, China’s regional disparity experienced three sub-periods: a period of decline from 1978 to the early 1990s, a period of increase from the early 1990s to the early 2000s and a period of significant decline after the early 2000s. If we divide China’s overall regional disparity into four components: disparity within the east, disparity within the centre, disparity within the west and disparity between the three regions, the first and the fourth dominated the changes of China’s regional disparity in the past three decades. After the early 2000s, both the reduction of disparity between the three regions and the reduction of disparity within the east have contributed to the significant reduction of China’s overall regional disparity. This result implies that under the China-style inclusive development strategy, the recent adjustment in regional development strategy has considerably reduced the regional disparity in this huge country. However, the recent high economic growth in the inland provinces is heavily dependent on a huge input of capital, which is driven by public investment and seems not to be sustainable. To achieve a more inclusive and sustainable development, the Chinese Government and policy-makers should pay more attention to the issues of the low growth of TFP (total factor productivity) and the low growth of labour input in less-developed provinces.     

区域经济发展与吸引外资能力耦合互动关系——基于耦合协调度与PVAR模型的实证分析

利用2006—2019年中国 30 个省区市的相关数据对区域经济发展水平系统和吸引外资能力系统进行综合评价，通过耦合协调度和 PVAR模型实证分析两系统间的耦合与互动发展特征。研究发现：2006—2019年经济发展水平和吸引外资能力均有明显改善，各省区市的系统耦合协调度为 0.11—0.61，呈平稳上升的态势；在空间上，耦合协调度的局部莫兰散点主要分布在一、三象限，说明大部分地区呈现“高?高”或“低?低”聚集的空间特征；在互动关系上，吸引外资能力受到区域经济发展水平的影响程度较大，而区域经济发展水平受到吸引外资能力的影响程度则相对较小。     

基于专利数据的中国石墨烯技术创新区域特征研究

依照不同省份区域石墨烯专利数量、技术领域、创新主体3个不同维度构建R-NFA动态分析框架,利用二维矩阵图归纳不同区域专利发展的3个维度具体特征,综合3个维度的各省份石墨烯专利数据,利用SPSS系统聚类发现,中国石墨烯技术创新发展区域可分为4个梯队,每一梯队表现出不同发展特征。研究的重要政策启示在于中国各省份区域石墨烯技术创新呈现差异化发展特征由各省份经济发展层次不同决定,在石墨烯助推中国深化供给侧改革和传统产业升级换代的大背景下,需要深刻审视中国石墨烯产业发展方向和阶段。