Would Functional Specialization of Space Narrow Down Regional Disparities? — An Empirical Analysis Based on Panel Data of Chinese Urban Agglomerations 2003–2011

Yong Zhao () and Ouge Qi ()
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Yong Zhao: School of Economics and Management, Northwest University, 1 Xuefu Avenue, Guodu Education and Hi-Tech Industries Zone, Chang’an District, Xi’an 710075, Shaanxi Province, China
Ouge Qi: School of Economics and Management, Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications, 563 Chang’an South Street, Chang’an District, Xi’an 710121, Shaanxi Province, China

Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies (CJUES), 2017, vol. 05, issue 01, 1-21

Abstract: Strengthening regional cooperation and promoting functional specialization of space are significant orientations of current regional development strategies, but whether the functional specialization of space based on the co-agglomeration of manufacturing industry and service industry narrows regional disparities is yet to be verified. The authors utilize the panel data of 16 Chinese urban agglomerations from 2003 to 2011 and verify that functional specialization of space and regional disparities present an inverted U-curve relationship, that is, as functional specialization of space develops, regional disparities get larger and vice versa. By comparing indexes of functional specialization of space of major urban agglomerations in China, the authors find that by 2011 only the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomerations enter the second half of the inverted U-curve. Some other urban agglomerations are at or reaching the inflection point. However, half of Chinese urban agglomerations are still at the first half of the inverted U-curve, and it is expected to take a long time for some of them to reach the inflection point. In addition, this paper provides circumstantial evidence for the existence of an S-curve relationship for three times between the labor productivity of a city’s service industry and the distance from the city to large ports, meaning that the agglomerating efficiency of the service industry is relatively high in the eastern and western regions of China and low in the central region. The above conclusions indicate that different types of urban agglomerations should adopt different coping strategies in promoting coordinated regional development by strengthening regional cooperation and boosting functional specialization of space.

Keywords: Urban agglomeration; core–periphery spatial structure; functional specialization of space; regional disparities; inverted U-curve (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1142/S2345748117500038

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