Regional Inequality in Underdeveloped Areas: A Case Study of Guizhou Province in China

Wei Sun, Xiaona Lin, Yutian Liang and Lu Li
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Wei Sun: Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xiaona Lin: Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Yutian Liang: Center of Integrated Geographic Information Analysis, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Lu Li: Center of Integrated Geographic Information Analysis, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: This study analyzes regional development in one of the poorest provinces in China, Guizhou Province, between 2000 and 2012 using a multiscale and multi-mechanism framework. In general, regional inequality has been declining since 2000. In addition, economic development in Guizhou Province presented spatial agglomeration and club convergence, which shows how the development pattern of core-periphery has been developed between 2006 and 2012. Multilevel regression analysis revealed that industrialization, marketization and investment level were the primary driving forces of regional economic disparity in Guizhou Province. We can get a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved in regional inequality in Guizhou Province with the multilevel regression models. The influences of decentralization on regional economic disparity were actually relatively weak, and investment level exhibited more importance on the regional inequality when the variable of time was considered. In addition, both the topography and urban-rural differentiation were the two main reasons for forming a core-periphery structure in Guizhou Province.

Keywords: regional inequality; multilevel regression; Markov chain; Guizhou Province (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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