Radical Urbanization And Quality Of Economic Growth

Urbanization is an indispensable and important process in economic growth.With the rapid development of urbanization in China,the urbanization rate is increasing.However,the expansion space and production factors in some areas have not increased synchronously,and the actual effect is not good.This phenomenon is called radical urbanization in academic circles.At present,China’s economic growth is in the new normal from quantitative expansion to quality upgrading.So,what is the specific impact of radical urbanization on the quantity and quality of economic growth?Although a few literatures have discussed the influence of radical urbanization on the quantitative level,there is no systematic test in the field of growth quality.The process of urbanization is also an important factor in macro-opening.Therefore,under the background of emphasizing high-quality development and domestic and international double circulation,it is of great significance to scientifically evaluate the impact of radical urbanization for reversing the state of inefficient urban expansion,improving the quality of economic growth and achieving more efficient,stable and sustainable development.On the basis of literature research and fact analysis,this paper uses the panel data of 290 major cities in China from 2003 to 2019 and the nighttime lighting images of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration(NOAA)of the United States to study the impact of radical urbanization on the quality of economic growth by using the fixed effect model.Among them,the economic growth quality index of the explained variable adopts the multi-factor evaluation method,constructs a comprehensive evaluation system including 19 basic indicators and 22 proxy variables,and synthesizes three sub-indicators of economic growth quality,efficiency,stability and sustainability by principal component analysis(PCA).The explanatory variable,radical urbanization index,is measured by the logarithmic value of the ratio of urban built-up area to night lighting data.The night lighting image is extracted from DMSP/OLS image and NPP/VIIRS image by Arcgis and Stata software,and the continuous data is obtained after consistency correction.In addition,combined with the research in the trade field,this paper finds that the international investment flow is sensitive to urbanization,and measures the international direct investment flow by the ratio of the change value of international direct investment to the change value of built-up area,and uses it as a tool variable to deal with the possible endogenous problems.P value is 0 and F value is greater than the critical value,which shows that this is a good tool variable.The two-way fixed effect model of city and year is used to carry out benchmark regression,and the robustness of benchmark results is confirmed by tests such as bilateral tail reduction of 1%,replacement of explanatory variables,treatment of characteristic facts,elimination of omitted variables and elimination of policy influence.It is found that the influence of radical urbanization on the quantity and quality of economy is inconsistent,which improves the quantity but significantly inhibits the quality of growth.Sub-indicators show that radical urbanization significantly inhibits the growth efficiency and stability,and has a positive impact on sustainability.Heterogeneity shows that cities with higher degree of marketization,higher population density,more adequate land indicators and more basic investment are relatively sensitive to the negative effects of radical urbanization.Exclusivity test shows that unproductive public expenditure can improve the quality of economic growth,while radical urbanization significantly squeezes out unproductive public expenditure.The mechanism test shows that radical urbanization mainly inhibits financial output and land efficiency,and then has an expanding effect on the imbalance of resource allocation,resulting in the actual effect not reaching expectations,and the growth quality does not match the development process.First,there is a transmission mechanism of "radical urbanization-declining fiscal output-restraining the improvement of economic growth quality".Financial intervention in the market and increasing urban construction investment lead to the deviation between capital cost and marginal income;Repeated investment and waste inhibit growth efficiency,and capital mismatch and disorder affect stability.Secondly,there is a transmission mechanism of "radical urbanization-land efficiency decline-restraining economic growth and improving quality".Lack of rational planning in land development,surplus industries occupying land resources,insufficient land use intensity and lagging production factors make it difficult to effectively support high-quality output.The above results show that in the process of urbanization,we should pay attention to the relationship between production and city,people and land,and new and old.With regard to the research on the quality of growth,this paper provides a more direct and objective reference for scientifically evaluating the impact of radical urbanization,and for the government to make overall plans and rationally plan the urbanization process.