Study On Economic Development Paradigm And Strategy Of Rural Mountainous Areas

30 years since the launch of reform and opening-up policy, China has made world-famous achievements. The imbalance of regional economies as a result, however, has hindered further economic and social development. It has been years that the economy in mountainous areas is far behind plain areas and urban areas. This study adopts both theoretical and empirical researches to examine economic development in rural mountainous areas after introducing development practices of rural mountainous areas in developed countries. Based on Kuhn's Theory of Paradigm, this study conducts deep and systematic research on the development paradigm of rural mountainous areas. It holds great value to learn about the development law of rural mountainous areas in China and also provides valuable policy implications on development strategies for mountainous areas and the national economy.Following literature review and summarizing development experiences of developed countries'rural mountainous areas, this study defines what is"development paradigm of rural mountainous areas"and its characteristics, analyzes the evolution mechanism of the paradigm, and then builds an"Embedded Network Development Paradigm"based on the current development trends and constraints of rural mountainous areas'economy. Moreover, it studies experiences from practices in Hebei Taihang mountainous areas and especially in Gangshan village, and puts forward strategic principles, goals and a Innovation Guarantee System of economy development of Hebei Taihang mountainous areas.Main conclusions of the study include:Firstly, Based on Kuhn's Theory of Paradigm and successful experiences in developed countries, this study defines"development paradigm of rural mountainous areas"and presents its evolution motivation and path. It builds up an"Embedded Network Development Paradigm"which is comprised by local knowledge network, knowledge-capacity sustainable innovation system, and development behavior network. It can be concluded that a comprehensive approach with the market as the development foundation, initial endowment as the prerequisite, government as the exogenous power, and local innovation as the endogenous power is a necessity in rural mountainous areas. Secondly, with the aid of practices in Fugang village's economy development, this study proves the correctness of evolution path and motivation of development paradigm of rural mountainous areas, and the paradigm mechanism of"Embedded Network Development".Thirdly, this paper builds up Paradigm-based Development Strategy Guarantee System of Hebei Taigang mountainous areas. First, by introducing initial endowment of rural economic development in Hebei Taihang mountainous areas, this study adopts methodologies of Principle Component Analysis, AHP, and Cluster Analysis to analyze the impacts and restraints of natural resources, economic factors and social factors on economic development in mountainous areas. Second, the study selects six typical counties in Hebei Taihang mountainous areas and builds up a mathematical model to assess influences of the internalized institution on economy development during 1996-2008, and then it examines the development paradigm of the six counties, deducing a path of institutional changes around the year of 2004. At last, the study summarizes the changes of development paradigm, the trend and problems of Hebei Taihang mountainous areas, based on which, it puts forward a Development Strategy System and"4+3"Innovation Guarantee System of Hebei Taihang mountainous areas featuring"high level","elastic motivation"and"breakthrough". At the same time, it takes coordination, innovation, industrialization and urbanization as the main focuses of strategy.