The Impact Of Urban Primacy Index On Economic Growth

After the reform and opening up,In order to attract foreign investment and technology to develop in China,the Chinese government has opened a number of coastal and riverside cities.These opening-up policies have promoted the rapid development of non-provincial capital city,and weakened the central city functions of some provincial capital cities.In this context,with the purpose of improving the leading power and radiation role of provincial capital cities,a number of provinces and regions have put forward the development strategy,which of enhancing the urban primary index and creating economic growth poles,to lead the high-quality development of provincial economy.In 2020,《Qiushi》Magazine published an article titled "Some Major Issues in China’s Medium-and Long-term Economic and Social Development Strategy".The article proposed that "Eastern cities should adopt a multi-center city cluster model instead of blindly spreading their pie.In the middle and western provinces where conditions permit,we should consciously cultivate multiple central cities to avoid the disadvantage of "one city dominating the country".There is a question worthy of further,what we need is the primacy city or multi-city collaborative development?Firstly,this paper clarifies the influence mechanism of urban primacy index on economic growth by combing relevant literature and theories.Secondly,this paper analyzes the urban primary index,the current situation of economic growth.And refer to the relevant documents of provinces and regions on improving the urban primary index,we find that the enlargement method of withdrawing counties and establishing districts is an important measure to improve urban primary index.In addition,the establishment of national central city is an important measure to enhance the competitiveness of cities.Under the background of promoting urban primary index,many provinces are striving to become national central cities.Based on this background,this paper uses the relevant data of 23 provinces and autonomous regions in China from 2000 to 2019,to conduct an empirical study on the impact of urban primary index on economic growth.Moreover,two variables,enlargement and national central city policy,are further introduced to analyze their role in the influence of provincial capital city priori degree on economic growth.This paper finds that in the full sample range,increasing the urban primary index is not conducive to economic growth.In the heterogeneity analysis,there is no significant correlation between urban primary index in eastern China and economic growth,while the urban primary index in middle and western China has a significant negative impact on economic growth.Both enlargement and the national central city policy have a reverse moderating effect on the influence of urban primary index on economic growth,and weaken the negative effect of urban primary index on economic growth.Finally,based on the empirical analysis results,this paper puts forward some policy suggestions.Firstly,guide resource factors to return to small and medium-sized cities.Secondly,expand the radiation scope of provincial cities.Thirdly,improve the function of provincial capitals and promote the construction of metropolitan areas.I hope these suggestions can provide reference for the government to promote the healthy development of local economy.