| The implementation of the Western Development Strategy(WDS)provides a strategic opportunity to catch up and develop for western China region with long-term economic backwardness.Shaanxi Province,as the gateway of the northwest region’s foreign relations,has achieved considerable economic development.However,with the development of regional economy,the phenomenon of regional economic disparity and a series of problems caused by it,such as the tension between man and land,lack of social equity,hindered integration of urban and rural areas,widening gap between rich and poor,and imbalanced resource allocation,have gradually emerged,which need to be solved urgently.Regional economic disparity is a common economic phenomenon.If the degree of disparity is controlled within a reasonable and appropriate range,it is conducive to the interregional flow of production factors,the effective allocation of resources and the smooth advancement of division of labor and cooperation.However,if the degree of regional economic disparity exceeds a reasonable threshold,It will cause many negative effects,not only destroying the healthy competition and cooperation of economic activities,but even threatening the healthy development of the regional economy and social stability.Therefore,in the process of economic development,how to narrow regional economic differences and achieve sustainable and coordinated development has become the focus of attention in the development practice of various countries and regions.This research constructs a multi-scale and multi-mechanism research framework at the county level,prefecture and municipal level,and regional level,takes GDP per capita as the basic measurement index,and quantitatively analyzes the features of relative differences,temporal-spatial patterns,temporal-spatial transfer paths of regional economic differences in Shaanxi Province from 2000 to 2020 by methods such as the overall difference measurement index,ESDA,Markov chain,spatial Markov chain,Geo Dector and deeply analyzes the influence mechanism of regional economic differences at different spatial scales in order to comprehensively clarify the evolution law and driving mechanism of regional economic differences.On this basis,combined with the basic situation of economic development in Shaanxi Province,it puts forward strategies and suggestions for narrowing regional economic differences to achieve sustainable and coordinated development.The following main conclusions are drawn from the above research content:(1)The regional economic differences in different spatial scales in Shaanxi Province were relatively obvious from 2000 to 2020,and they all fluctuated in a downward trend to varying degrees.Under the influence of the scale effect,regional economic differences and their evolution are highly sensitive to spatial scales,and follow the law that the smaller the scale is,the greater the regional economic differences is,that is,county level > prefecture and municipal level > regional level.(2)The contribution of each component in the regional economic difference structure at different scales is different.At the county scale,intra-regional differences are the most important component of overall regional economic differences;at the prefecture and municipal scale,intra-regional and inter-regional differences contribute equally to the overall difference;With countys or prefectures as the basic units,the internal differences in Guanzhong area are much larger than those in northern Shaanxi and southern Shaanxi,that is,the order of contribution rate to the overall difference from large to small is:Guanzhong>Northern Shaanxi>Southern Shaanxi.(3)There are obvious differences in the spatial evolution of economic development levels at all scales in Shaanxi Province.On the county scale,each county has experienced the evolution process of economic spatial pattern of “single core structure-three core structure-dual core structure”;On the prefecture and municipal scale,All cities have experienced the evolution process of “single core structure-dual core structure-new dual core structure”;on the regional scale,the Guanzhong region has always been the central region leading the province’s economic development,while the northern Shaanxi region has gradually become a new engine driving the province’s economic growth.(4)The spatial agglomeration of spatial units of different economic levels at different scales in Shaanxi Province is different.At the county scale,the Global Moran’s I index value is significantly positive and stable between 0.475 and 0.583.The spatial agglomeration of each county is strong,and the clustering patterns of "high-high" and "low-low" are dominant;At the prefecture and municipal scale,the Global Moran’s I index value ranges from-0.18 to0.307,and the phenomenon of "club convergence" is not significant.(5)Affected by the path dependence and local spatial locking effect,the economic development level of the counties,and cities in Shaanxi Province maintains a strong stability in the original state.The two spatial lag conditions,regional background and neighborhood state,can affect the stability and transfer direction of the economic development level of the spatial unit,but the mode of action and the depth of influence of the two are different.The regional background can greatly improve the steady state of the economic development level,the neighborhood state can reduce the path-dependent characteristics of spatial units to a certain extent.(6)At the county level,the most important factors affecting regional economic differences are the total industrial output value above designated size,the proportion of secondary industry output value,the per capita disposable income of urban residents,the per capita net income of rural residents,and the per capita savings deposit balance of urban and rural residents.etc;at the prefecture and municipal scale,the most important factor affecting regional economic differences is research and development expenditure,and the population urbanization rate,highway mileage,and population density are important influencing factors.If any two influencing factors interact,the degree of interpretation of regional economic differences will be significantly improved after the synergistic interaction compared with the single-factor condition,and the interaction categories are both two-factor enhancement or nonlinear enhancement.(7)At all spatial scales,there are obvious economic growth poles and extensive peripheral areas with average development levels.With the continuous advancement of industrialization and urbanization,the growth pole drives the overall evolution of the regional economy towards a coordinated and balanced direction.The empirical analysis results are basically consistent with the relevant theoretical conclusions.Growth pole theory,Core-periphery theory,new economic geography and other related theories can explain the causes of regional economic differences and guide the coordinated development of regional economies.Based on the above conclusions,four implementation paths and optimization suggestions for narrowing the economic differences within the province and promoting the coordinated development of the whole region are put forward:(1)Optimize the structure of the secondary industry and improve the level of industrialization;(2)Strengthen the radiation and driving role of regional economic growth poles;(3)Accelerate the infrastructure construction to break down economic radiation barriers in underdeveloped areas;(4)Fully exploit development advantages and actively integrate into national strategies. |
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