Urbanization, Rural E-Commerce Villages, and Regional Solutions for Urban–Rural Coordinated Development in China

Zhikun Yue, Xungang Zheng (), Linling Zhong and Wang Zhang
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Zhikun Yue: College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Xungang Zheng: College of Management, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Linling Zhong: School of Literature and Journalism, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
Wang Zhang: College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: With the rapid development of e-commerce, Taobao Villages have emerged as a representative form of rural e-commerce in China, exerting a profound influence on rural economic transformation and urban–rural integration. However, their spatiotemporal distribution is uneven and exhibits a complex interaction with urbanization. Drawing on data from 178 cities between 2017 and 2022, this study employs the Spatial Autoregressive Model (SAR), Spatial Error Model (SEM), and Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) to examine both the direct and spillover effects of urbanization on Taobao Villages. The results indicate that Taobao Villages display significant spatial clustering across China. While urbanization exerts a positive short-term effect on the number of local Taobao Villages, this effect weakens in the long term and under spatial interaction, and higher levels of urbanization in one region impose significant negative spillover effects on neighboring areas. These findings highlight the dual nature of urbanization in simultaneously promoting and constraining rural e-commerce development. Accordingly, policy efforts should focus on rational administrative spatial adjustment and boundary reorganization, optimizing the urban–rural spatial structure, supporting the development of peripheral and disadvantaged regions, enhancing the balanced and efficient flow of factors across regions, and fostering differentiated development pathways to strengthen the resilience of Taobao Villages and promote healthy and sustainable urban–rural integration.

Keywords: urbanization; Taobao villages; rural e-commerce; regional coordinated development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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