长江经济带研究综述与展望

A review and prospect on studies of Yangtze River Economic Belt

本文系统梳理了长江经济带研究的现状、重点和存在的问题。与长江经济带的政策关注度和战略定位变化相对应,国内对长江经济带的研究经历了3个阶段。现有研究主要关注三大问题:长江经济带的区域地理特征、发展基础评估和发展谋略。在梳理已有研究的过程中,本文发现学者对经济带概念缺乏清晰界定,对经济带至少存在两种不同理解——一种强调地域范围,另一种侧重区域开发模式。这两种理解背后是实证逻辑与工程逻辑两套话语的对立。此外,现有研究对于协同发展的标准存在分歧,对经济带内创新培育与扩散的关注仍然有所不足。

Yangtze River Economic Belt(YREB)has become a national strategyin contemporary China.This paper reviews the existing literature in China interms of the history,key concepts and major themes in major studies on YREB.Generally,the studies on YREB had three stages:initiation stage(1980-2000),stagnation stage(2001-2009)and revival stage(since2010).The geographicalscope and strategic positioning of the YREB changed in different stages.Recently,the YREB mainly functions to expand domestic demand,promote opening-up and narrow the regional gaps.It is found in this paper that the conceptof economic belt is not clearly defined and there are at least two differentunderstandings of economic belt:one focus on the scope of region andthe other emphasizes the mode and strategy of regional development.The deepreason of these two interpretations of the economic belt is the duality ofparadigms in Chinese academic sphere.While some scholars follow the logics ofengineering,some others incline to the discourse of positivistic science.Thedisconnect between the science and engineering of studies of YREB leads toweak scientific foundation of the engineering-prone research and impracticalpolicy implications of science-prone studies.Three major topics have alsobeen identified among existing studies:empirical studies of regional developmentof the YREB,evaluation of the conditions and existing problems for policy making,policy research aiming to make specific strategies for YREB.Basedon a overview of studies in these three topics,this paper points out that notmany studies have examined the concept of economic zone,the criterion and indexesof synergistic development and the cultivation and diffusion of innovationin the YREB.