Evolution and Mechanism of the “Core–Periphery” Relationship: Micro-Evidence from Cross-Regional Industrial Production Organization in a Fast-Developing Region in China

Lixia Jin, Changjian Wang, Hongou Zhang, Yuyao Ye, Zhiwei Du and Yuling Zhang
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Lixia Jin: Key Lab of Guangdong for Utilization of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Geospatial Information Technology and Application, Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangzhou 510070, China
Changjian Wang: Key Lab of Guangdong for Utilization of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Geospatial Information Technology and Application, Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangzhou 510070, China
Hongou Zhang: Key Lab of Guangdong for Utilization of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Geospatial Information Technology and Application, Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangzhou 510070, China
Yuyao Ye: Key Lab of Guangdong for Utilization of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Geospatial Information Technology and Application, Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangzhou 510070, China
Zhiwei Du: Key Lab of Guangdong for Utilization of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Geospatial Information Technology and Application, Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangzhou 510070, China
Yuling Zhang: Key Lab of Guangdong for Utilization of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Geospatial Information Technology and Application, Guangzhou Institute of Geography, Guangzhou 510070, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: The location selection mechanism and effect of industrial transfer have been widely considered in academia, but the influence of institutional factors on cross-regional industrial transfer and regional differences still need further investigation. Based on theories of economic geography as well as new economic geography (NEG) and its’ institutional transformation, this paper studies the form, mechanism, and effect of the “core–periphery” regional relationship between the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and non-Pearl River Delta (NPRD) areas in Guangdong Province from the micro perspective of industrial spatial organization. Based on a case study on the change of the cross-regional production spatial organization of ceramics enterprises between Foshan and Qingyuan, it is found that after three rounds of spatial reorganization, the production spatial organization of Foshan’s and Qingyuan’s ceramics industries has changed significantly, forming a multifactory, multilocation production spatial structure and regional production network, which further drives to form the regional functional division of “core–periphery”. Institution factors, especially environmental regulation and industrial transfer institutional arrangements, have become an important driving force for the current industrial transfer, but its impact on regional relations is still not a decisive factor. The path locking of the “core–periphery” mode has not been fundamentally broken through. Although the form of spatial inequality has greatly changed, in fact, it produces a new form of inequality. The economic, geographical, and political theoretical framework from the micro-perspective of enterprises will provide a possible theoretical explanation for the phenomenon of “pollution moving to the West, high-tech industry moving to the East, industrial output gathering to the East” in China.

Keywords: cross-regional industrial production reorganization; regional unbalanced development; the “core–edge” model; ceramic industry; Pearl River Delta (PRD) and non-Pearl River Delta (NPRD); Guangdong Province; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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