Research On The Economic Mechanisms Of Development Zone's Spatial Location Choice And Its Impacts On Urban Development In China

The development zone is the most typical place(location)-based industrial policy in China,and also as an important method for Chinese government to promote urbanization and urban spatial reconstruction.It reflects the core features of “Chinese Model” and is becoming one of the most important perspectives for economists to study the “Chinese Model” of economic growth and urban development.From perspectives of both open city system and inner urban space,this dissertation studies the location choice of development zones and the economic mechanisms of how it influences the urban development.The findings of this dissertation will enrich the theoretical and empirical research on how place-based industrial policies lead the urban development.They can also provide quantitative support on developing policies of industrial and urban development.Firstly,on the basis of summarizing the international theories on place-based policies and urban development,and the practice and existing studies of Chinese development zones,a theoretical framework of Chinese development zone analysis is constructed from the perspectives of the interactive mechanism between spatial location choice and economic effects.The model suggests that(1)the interaction between the central government(or provincial government)and the municipal governments determines the spatial distribution of development zones across cities,(2)the calculation of benefits and costs is a demand when municipal government decide the location of development zones,(3)the development zones lead urban development through agglomeration in both production and consumption.Secondly,taking the national and provincial development zones in China as an example,the dissertation conducts empirical researches with statistical analysis and econometric model analysis.Followings are the main empirical findings.(1)The location and economic basis of a city as well as the political connection between the local officials with upper-level officials are important factors in determining whether the city can get the permission of building a development zone.Once permission is obtained,transportation and land use condition are important factors impacting the spatial layout of a new town within the city.(2)On average,the development zones can significantly promote the GDP per capita of cities by 7.3%,and facilitate the urbanization development from both quantity and quality aspects.It should be noticed that a lot of development zones don't achieve effective results.(3)From the perspective of inner cities,in the eight large cities studied in this dissertation,the construction of development zones on average can contribute to 19.5% and 9.85% increase in enterprises' TFP within and around the development zones area respectively.And they also improve the vitality of housing market and local services market.Well 30% of the development zones provide negative production spillovers and smaller consumption spillovers.(4)On average,the increase of production scale in the development zone brings negative influence on local environment,but at the same time the development zone can reduce the energy consumption intensity and environmental influence by improving the industrial structure and production technology.It is found that in cities with more stringent environmental regulation,the negative environmental impact is relatively smaller.Finally,this dissertation suggests that during the implementation of place-based industrial policies,the government should follow the economic rules between location choice and its effects.The different features of individual cities need to be fully considered during this process.Through reasonable incentive mechanism,the municipal government will achieve the sustainable development of development zones and new towns.