Research On Changes Of China’s Regional Economic Disparities And Its Influencing Factors

With the economic growth of China, China’s social economic has developedrapidly since the reform and opening up strategy was carried out. However, there areso many problems that influenced the economic development and social stabilitybehind the rapid economic development. With the priority of development in theeastern coastal areas, the problem of unbalanced regional development among thethree zones is obvious getting worse. To alleviate the problem of unbalancedregional development, the central government has proposed the strategy ofdeveloping the western areas revitali ing the old northeast industrial basementand rising the central areas. Especially after the2008financial crisis triggered byeconomic globalization, regional economic disparities among the three areas arousedthe concern of the academics again.According to the characteristics of regional economic disparities existing intime and space, this paper uses the analysis method by space and time, empirical andnormative, qualitative and quantitative by drawing on the existing theory andresearch results of the early21st century scholars. First, the paper explains thechanges of regional economic disparities based on the geographic units of China’seastern, central and western areas and the statistical data from1978to2011.Secondly, the paper builds a theoretical framework of factors about the changes ofregional economic disparities, considering the Production factors, allocatingefficiency of factors, the using efficiency of factors in three areas by principalcomponent analysis. Through the theoretical and empirical analysis, the paper drawsthe following conclusions:1. Since1978, the absolute gap of the three areas has expanded gradually, butthe relative gap from1978to1991expanded slowly, and the relative gap from1992to2004expanded rapidly. The relative gap from2005to2011is shrinking and evensome numerical indicators of relative gap in2011return to the level of numericalindicators in1978.2. Production factors including labor, human capital and physical capital played an important role in regional economic disparities.3. Allocating efficiency of factors including trade dependence，investmentefficiency，investment coefficient,the degree of market and industrial structureplayed a declining role in regional economic disparities.4. The using efficiency of factors including their own ability, ComparativeAdvantage, technological progress, the division of labor played a rising role inregional economic disparitiesCompared with the previous studies of regional economic disparities, this paperabsorbed and learned the latest statistics and academic research. And the paperstudied on the analysis of latest statistics and empirical research. The findings of thestudy provide a theoretical basis for dealing with economics questions of "fair" and"efficiency", providing reference for the relevant policies of the government. Thispaper is important to the promotion of sustainable development and harmoniousdevelopment of China’s economy.