The Study On The Models, Mechanisms And Strategies Of The Urban Primacy Ratio And Economic Growth In Middle Provinces

In regional economics, urban primacy ratio is an important theory of city scaledistribution. Particularly, the primacy ratio is a more authoritative measuring standardfor metropolitan status in regional development. With the industrializationprogressing continuously in the regional economic development process, animportant phenomenon in urbanization is shown in the development road driven bythe primate city and the central city, which of an important carrier is taken the citycluster with the primate city as the core for regional development. And the rapidregional economic growth is promoted on the basis of the combination ofagglomeration effects with radiation effects. Based on the above two points, theattention should be deserved to a differential phenomenon in urbanization whilefurther exploring the regional development process in China: there are generally twocities with the similar development level in various provinces of the easterndeveloped region, that is, existing a deputy central city which can compete andcoordinate with the capital city in the aspects of that size and strength. But it is shownthat the capital city becomes the only dominance in the various provinces of themiddle developing regions, in which there is almost no secondary city that cancompare with the capital development, while the middle regions still exist some gapsin the development level with the eastern region. So, is there an inevitable linkbetween this difference in the urban structure and the economic development level?In this regard, the middle provinces are taken as the studying scope, the relationshipof the primacy ratio with the regional economic growth was set as the studyingsubject, the aim is made to explore the mechanism between the two, and scientificand efficient urban development countermeasures will be put forward.According to the above research perspective and basic research ideas, the maincontents and results of this research are in the following areas:First, the theoretical basis of the study is founded. The domestic andinternational research theories and the existing research results on urban primacy ratio are combed systematically, and the theories of central cities, urban structure andothers will be reviewed and summarized emphatically, and the relevant literatures ofurban development of some middle regions will be commented. The existingliteratures show that there are fewer literatures that specialized in studying therelationship of urban primacy ratio with the economic growth, and in which only takethe primacy ratio as a research tool, not exploring the economic factors in depth, sothat its optimal scale was seldom discussed. Hence, this study will take this as animportant breakthrough.Second, the status quo of the primate cities will be analyzed. Here generalevaluation model of competitiveness will be used, competitiveness evaluation indexsystem will be established for the primate cities of the middle provinces, the currentdevelopment strength of each primate city will be compared, the factor analysis willbe adopted. It will be ranked for the development capabilities of the primate cities inmiddle provinces, whose results show that Wuhan and Changsha ranked strongest,followed by Zhengzhou, Nanchang and Hefei, Taiyuan got the wooden spoon.Meanwhile, it will be concluded that the primate cities in the middle provinces facesome dominant problems, such as a lower level of industrial coordination andregional cooperation, the uncertain labor division, serious ecological threats andothers.Third, the changing rules of the primacy ratio. It will make use of the absoluteaverage percentage deviation in time series, respectively analyze the populationprimacy ratio and the primacy ratio for economic growth in the middle provinces,compare the practical economic development, find that the relationship of theprimacy ratios of the middle provinces with the economic growth did not fullycomply with the inverted U-shaped curve in "Williamson-Hansen Hypothesis ", andthus make up and perfect the theory,that is, considering a static assumptions existing,which can be regarded as a simple and longtime rule in the regional economictheories. The development and changes in the primacy ratio is dominated by theallocation efficiency of inherent resources converging rule.Fourth, the relationship of urban primacy ratio with the economic growth. Itfirstly solves the existence problems of the urban primacy ratio with the economic growth. By verifying the mutual causality between the two, it illustrates the primacyratio is indeed one of the reasons for the economic growth in the middle provincesand reflects more in the impact on GDP per capita, human capital accumulation stillpushing economic growth. Because the economic contributions of the primacy ratiolag behind, it still needs to make a rational allocation for human resources, thetechnical digest absorption and appropriately increase the accumulation scale toachieve rapid economic growth in the middle underdeveloped areas. Secondly itanalyzes the trend of the relationship between the primacy ratio and the economicgrowth, identifying the relationship between the two in the middle provinces withsimple linear diagrams, in which the various provinces showed their own“Williamson Curve"(such as level "S" type, the inverted "U" type or monotoneincreasing type), tentatively concluding the medium-term development trend of thetwo relationship.Fifth, the optimal scale of urban primacy ratio. Combined with other factors forregional economic growth, it will construct the regional economic growth modelincluding the primacy ratio, obtaining the values for the optimal scale of the variousprovinces by the thresholds regression analysis. The results identify the optimal valueof some provinces, the two provinces Hubei and Hunan without threshold valuesshowed their primacy ratios play a steady role in the economic growth, and there is nosignificant fluctuation. The two provinces Henan and Anhui need to further optimizethe urban structure. Both of Jiangxi and Shanxi have high value on the optimal scale,reflecting the agglomeration features of the primate cities are ever-increasing inunderdeveloped areas, also confirming that the Jiangxi policy of "Building the CoreGrowth Pole of Nanchang" has achieved some success from another aspect.Meanwhile, it also shows the limitation of taking primacy ratio as an economic factorto study.Sixth, the efficiency of regional economic growth. To ensure the key contents ofurban agglomeration in the future middle provinces, it takes resource utilizationefficiency as the study object, analyzes the utilizing degree of input factors in theeconomic field in the middle provinces, summarizes its resource allocation efficiency,drawing that the middle provinces are commonly in scale efficiency increasing stage, factors of production and productivity can be further enhanced the economic growthrate, and the enhancement of labor elements affects economic growth rate more lowly.The development of primate cities should change the traditional concepts ofpopulation, the simple expansion of scale into the broad concept of human capital,achieving total factor productivity by technological innovation. The efficientenhancements of scale rely on the comprehensive centralization of the labor force,capitals, and technology, the efficient resources usage and efficient configuration.Seventh, the mechanism of the primate cities with the regional economic growth.It will focus on the intrinsic relationship between the development of the primatecities and the economic growth. According to the gathering functions, the radiationfunctions and innovative features of the primate cities, it concludes the dynamicmechanism, transmitting mechanism and coordination mechanism of the primatecities in regional economic development. It also will respectively apply the elementmechanism diagrams in the traditional qualitative analysis and the basic modes of thegrowing upper limit, the rich getting richer and "cut-throat competition" in Systemdynamics, establishing a mechanism model of the action of the urban primacy ratio tothe economic growth, systematically describing the interaction between the variouselements of the primate city in regional development. Moreover, it proposes thescientific development mechanisms from the five aspects of the industrial connection,policy coordination, interconnection and interworking, ecological protection andurban services for the primate cities in the middle provinces.Eighth, comprehensive empirical research findings and mechanism analysis.Based on summarizing the development experience of the primate cities in developedareas, it will propose the countermeasures system for their future development of themiddle provinces, focusing on optimizing the city layout, advancing the fusion of thecity and production, promoting the integration of urban and rural areas, improving theurban service system and innovation system, strengthening environmental protectionand building inter-provincial city cluster. Thus, it makes certain of the keyconstructions and reform contents of the primate cities in the middle provinces.Above all, by exploring the relationship between urban primacy ratio andeconomic growth, this study will describe the development state and laws of the primate cities in the middle cities in the regional economy from both theoretical andempirical research, and make a comparative analysis of the similarities anddifferences in the various provinces, achieving the innovations of a researchperspective and research ideas, enriching and improving the theories of the citycluster and the city scale in regional economy. It also attempts to extend the depth andbreadth of the urban development theory; while hoping to offer an idea to thecoordinated development between the primate cities and the urban periphery cities forthe middle provinces and coordinated development to promote the city clusterconstruction level of these areas upgrading, stepping out the urbanizationdevelopment path in the various middle provinces.