Global value chains and industrial agglomeration: evidence from manufacturing industries in China

Min Deng, Xiguang Cao (), Tianyi Zhang and Qisheng Zhang
Additional contact information
Min Deng: Shanghai Customs College
Xiguang Cao: East China University of Political Science and Law
Tianyi Zhang: East China University of Political Science and Law
Qisheng Zhang: East China University of Political Science and Law

Empirical Economics, 2025, vol. 69, issue 4, No 10, 1923-1961

Abstract: Abstract China’s active participation in the global value chains (GVCs) has significantly impacted the spatial distribution of its domestic industries. To examine the impacts of China’s GVC participation on industrial spatial agglomeration, we construct a new economic geography model that employs two countries, two factors, and three industries with an international vertical division for theoretical analysis. Using manufacturing industries data from 2000 to 2013 for empirical analysis, our findings indicate that industries with higher participation in GVCs show higher levels of industrial agglomeration compared to those with low GVC participation. Furthermore, heterogeneous effects reveal that GVC participation can enhance industrial agglomeration in both capital and technology-intensive industries, with more significant effects on capital-intensive industries, and minimal impacts on labor-intensive industries. The impact of GVC participation on industrial agglomeration is greater in high-tech industries, those industries with high levels of robot application and coastal regions, as compared to medium and low-tech industries, industries with low levels of robot application and inland regions. Moreover, both forward and backward participation modes in GVCs can foster industrial agglomeration, while GVC forward participation has a greater promoting effect, indicating that occupying a higher position in the value chain is more favorable to local industrial agglomeration.

Keywords: Global value chain participation; Industrial agglomeration; Manufacturing industries; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F14 L60 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00181-025-02810-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:empeco:v:69:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s00181-025-02810-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... rics/journal/181/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s00181-025-02810-4

Access Statistics for this article

Empirical Economics is currently edited by Robert M. Kunst, Arthur H.O. van Soest, Bertrand Candelon, Subal C. Kumbhakar and Joakim Westerlund

More articles in Empirical Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().