Policy Research On The Transformation Of Resource-based Cities Of China

At the begin of second half of nineteenth Century, Westernization Movement and early industrialization had been carried forward, and Resource-based Cities began to grow. Since the founding of new China, influenced by the Soviet Union, the post-war reconstruction and other factors, China carried out heavy industrialization strategy, which stimulated great demand for coal, fossil oil and iron ore. In order to satisfy the increasing resource demand, a large mount of Resource-based City and production bases grew up, which contributed great for China economy development, and especially heavy industry development and the national security strategy.But after several decades and even a hundred years’resource development in high strength, accompanied by development concept stagnant, market mechanism imperfect, the construction of taxation system insufficient, and other reasons, the low utilization rate of resources and serious waste of resources lead to fast exhaustion of resource reserves, and hence a lot of problems were accumulated. After the1980s,especially began from1990s, many Resource-based City, like Fuxin, entered exhaustion stage. Sharply rising exploration cost weakened the competitiveness severely, a substantial increase in unemployment, and stagnant social security construction lead to hard life of the laid-off workers, which aroused social contradictions.Besides, problems including single industrial structure, huge gap between the rich and poor (such as Coal bosses phenomena), huge gap among areas, and finance difficulty are highlighted, which seriously influenced sustainable development of those Resource-based Cities entering the semi-late life cycle. Those resource exhaustion cities like Fuxin had once drop into the trap of’resource curse’.Therefore, it’s necessary to enhance hard and soft environment development established in social economy and society present development station, and especially improve the mechanism construction of government arrangement, industry development,environment protection, resource exploration and related taxation system. In order to encourage successful transformation and sustainable development, and improve efficiency and fair of Resource-based City, it’s important to foster the fair in each link, enhance endogenous growth capacity of cities, strongly excite citizens’innovation and entrepreneurship, and cultivate and develop competitive non-resource substitution pillar industry,which will eliminate low economic efficiency and unfair distribution of interest, adjust and optimize the pattern of interest distribution.In this article, the research on the remodeling and improvement of Resource-based City’competitiveness is divided into four parts (a total of nine chapters).The first part (chapter1and chapter2):chapter1discuss the background and significance of transition of Resource-based City, distinguish the common problems and special problem, the common problems appear in many cities, rather than just in the resource type cities, and then the article makes comprehensive summary and review of domestic and international research literature, and finally, describes the research methods and framework, the main research content, which is the cultivation of competitiveness, strengthening the system construction, promoting the interest adjustment and optimization, and realizing fair and efficiency when enhancing competitiveness. Chapter2gives the definition, classification and characteristics of the Resource-based City, discusses the connotation and realistic significance of the transition of Resource-based City, and discusses competitive advantage theory, resource curse theory and system curse issues.The second part (chapter3,4, and5):chapter3focuses on the international experience of resource-based city transformation and the reference significance to the development of China’s Resource-based City transformation. This chapter discusses the success transition of the resource-based cities of Germany, France, Britain, the United States, Japan and Australia and other countries, and reference of such transition. And the article makes a comparative analysis of the United States, Japan and Germany and other three major categories of transformation model. Then, this article concludes ten principles from main experience of foreign transformation, and enlightenment to our country. Chapter4discusses the present situation of resource-based cities, and introduces the policies related to resource-based city transformation in China. Chapter5analyzes the transformation examples of Resource-based Citis, like Fuxin, Huaibei and Daqing cities, and concludes the enlightenment in industrial transformation, social transformation, the protection of the ecological environment, and system and mechanism construction.The third part (chapter6,7and8):Chapter6mainly discusses the research on the competitiveness of Resource-based City transition. First, it discusses competitiveness theory model, and then three key points of city transformation. Chapter7discusses the transformation of industrial structure, discusses the characteristics of new emerging industry, and then discusses several molds of industrial transformation. Chapter8discusses resource justice, that is, the fair resource interest distribution in Resource-based cities. we discuss the connotation of fair resource interest distribution, then discuss the unfair resource interest distribution including Resource-based city loss of economic benefits to the developed areas, the unequal allocation of resources wealth in the local residents, the external negative effects of resource mining:residents’income and cost mismatching, intergenerational inequality due to over-exploitation of resources. Then we discuss about the value compensation for resource products, which is the source of value loss caused by the defect of the system. Finally this chapter discusses the system construction of fair distribution of interests and reconstruction to solve the problems about the uneven distribution of benefits.The fourth part (chapter9). In order to facilitate the smooth transition of Resource-based City, chapter9of this dissertation recommends the relevant policies to achieve this goal better. Discussion of government support policies to resource type city, mainly focuses on the central and provincial government level, and makes some policy suggestions, such as transfer payments, tax reform, institutional mechanisms and some trial policies. And this part also discusses that, the Resource-based City itself needs to implement policies, such as improve governance, improve the environment for enterprise development. Based on the research of domestic and foreign scholars, this paper mainly has made the following progress. First one is to distinguish the resource type city common problems and special problems. The second one is basing on the ancient economics domain:the relationship between equity and efficiency, to discuss the competitive power and fair distribution of interest, which makes the problems and difficulties in the resource type city transition stage can be analyzed in this framework, and seize the two key problems facing the city transformation. It should be pointed out, justice and efficiency here do not conflict, and in fact, the unfairness problems in Resource-based City have seriously affected the efficiency, such as resources waste problem, not only lead to unfair, but also the problem of low efficiency. So reconstruction of fairness is important to improve the efficiency, and hence enhances competitiveness. The third one is to analyze that, in order to get rid of plight of the development of Resource-based City, it is ultimately to eliminate the defects of the system mechanism caused this problem, such as environmental pollution, resources waste and the gap between the rich and the poor, whose core is property and taxation interest distribution mechanism problem, which is neither fair nor efficiency.The key of the successful transition is to break the existing unreasonable interest pattern, and rebuild fair and competitive interest distribution pattern.As the Premier Li Keqiang said in2013March NPC and CPPCC," it’s more difficult for a touch to interests than to soul", the road of resource-based city transformation is difficult, but it is a point of no return.