Spatial spillover effects of transport infrastructure on regional economic growth

Spatial spillover effects,either positive or negative,of transport infrastructure,highways/expressways,etc.,on regional economic growth are proposed.Using the panel data for 11 cities of Zhejiang province from 1994 to 2003,a spatial production function is applied to examine the spatial spillovers which can be generated as a positive output spillover from the transport infrastructure between neighboring cities.Some spatial weighted matrices are adopted to define different neighboring cities to measure how easily factors or economic activities can migrate between regions.The estimation results show that the output elasticity of the highway infrastructure in 11 cities are all insignificant at a 5% significance level;hence,highway infrastructure in a region cannot explain the same region's economic growth.On the other hand,the highway infrastructure of other contiguous regions has positive spillover effects on a same region's economic growth.

Effects of “3414” Fertilization Effect Test on the Yield and Economic Benefit of Sagittaria sagittifolia

[Objective] To screen the optimal fertilizer formula, and to lay foundation for the research on special fertilizer for Sagittaria sagittifolia production. [Method] Based on the ＂3414＂ fertilization design, the yield of S. sagittifolia in each treatment was determined, and the effects of N, P and K treatments on the yield and eco- nomic benefit of S. sagittifolia were investigated, obtaining the optimal fertilizer appli- cation ratio. [Result] N, P and K had relatively good effects on the yield of S. sagittifolia. Treatment of N2P2K3 showed the optimal fertilizer application ratio, with the yield of 18 397.80 kg/hm2, yield increasing rate of 104.77%, and net income in- crease of 80 317.35 Yuan/hm2. N fertilizer had the greatest impacts on the yield of S. sagittifolia, followed with K fertilizer; while P fertilizer showed the poorest impacts. [Conclusion] To achieve the highest yield of S. sagittifolia, the fertilizer application was as follows： N of 446.70 kg/hm2, P20 of 568.10 kg/hm2, K2O of 534.90 kg/hm2, when the highest yield was 18 612.75 kg/hm2. Fertilizer application for the optimal economic benefit was N of 420.60 kg/hm2, P2O5 of 70.50 kg/hm2, K2O of 492.15 kg/hm2, when the optimal yield was 18 579.00 kg/hm2.

Study on Agglomeration and Fluctuation Situation and Development Countermeasures of Economic Crop Production in Hunan Province

[Objective] This paper aimed to investigate the agglomeration and fluctuation situation of economic crop production in Hunan Province and to propose related development countermeasures. [Method] With agglomeration index and fluctuation index as main indicators, the agglomeration and fluctuation situation of the production of seven major economic crops in Hunan Province in recent decade was studied. [Result] The agglomeration index of sown area and yield of seven major economic crops in Hunan Province showed decreasing orders of ramie 〉 cotton 〉 tobacco 〉 rape〉 citrus 〉 tea 〉 vegetables, ramie 〉 cotton 〉 tobacco 〉 tea 〉 rape 〉 citrus 〉 vegetables, respectively; the fluctuation index of sown area and yield showed decreasing orders of ramie 〉 citrus 〉 vegetables 〉 cotton 〉 tea 〉 rape 〉 tobacco, citrus 〉 ramie 〉 tea 〉 cotton 〉 rape 〉 tobacco 〉 vegetables, respectively. In addition, stable regions, relatively stabte regions and fluctuation regions of sown area and yield in various main producing areas were identified, and corresponding development countermeasures were proposed. [Cenclusion] The key to accelerate the development of major economic crop production in Hunan Province is further improving the agglomeration level of vegetable, citrus, rape and tea production and focusing on maintaining the stability of citrus, ramie and cotton production in main producing areas.

Threshold effects of tourism agglomeration on the green innovation efficiency of China's tourism industry

Industrial agglomeration is an essential and effective way to integrate resources and elements. Its impact on the green innovation efficiency of the tourism industry is a process of continuous development and dynamic change. This paper, based on the provincial panel data from 2006 to 2015, uses super SBM model to measure the green innovation efficiency of China's tourism industry.The threshold regression model is employed to conduct empirical tests of the nonlinear threshold effect of agglomeration on the green innovation efficiency of tourism industry. The inter-provincial differences of various threshold effects and their possible causes are analyzed. Results indicate that the green innovation efficiency of China's tourism industry is generally growing, while regional disparity is significant with a gradient decrease along the eastern-central-western regions. There is an obvious positive nonlinear relationship between tourism agglomeration and green innovation efficiency. It is also found that with the increase of agglomeration, its influence is at a high level. As the level of agglomeration crosses the first threshold, its impact is at a low level, and when it crosses the second threshold, the impact of tourism agglomeration is at an intermediate level. Finally, this paper proposes the basic path and some policy recommendations to promote the green innovation efficiency of the tourism industry in China.

Relationship Between Social Economic Agglomeration and Labor Productivity of Core Cities in Northeast China

Dalian, Shenyang, Changchun and Harbin are the four core cities which play an essential role in terms of promoting the economic development in Northeast China. In this paper, the impact of urban agglomeration on labor productivity is explored by making comparisons among these four cities. The model used for analysis is a classical model derived from previous studies. Some indicators, such as population density and economic density, were selected to examine the impact of urban agglomeration on the labor productivity based on the time-series data for the four cities from 1990 to 2007. The four main conclusions are： l） The promotion from the growth rate of population density on the growth rate of labor productivity is limited. 2） The negative relationship exists between the growth rate of employment density and the growth rate of labor productivity. 3） Agglomeration effect exists in the four cities, the highest one is Dalian, Shenyang takes the second place, followed by Changchun and Harbin, and the predominant promotion exerted on the labor productivity is the output density.

Cooperative Game Among Cities in Urban Agglomerations and Economical Sustainable Development

This paper analyses redounded profits of cooperation and non-cooperation among cities in urban agglomerations based on game theory. It discusses the problems of economical development among cities with feeble cooperation, and deduces the conclusion that only cooperation of cities produces the maximum profits and realizes Pareto efficiency for cities and urban agglomerations. The paper states that cooperation is the cornerstone of economic sustainable development in urban agglomerations in profits produced by cooperation among cities. Some suggestions to accelerate cooperation among cities are proposed.

Optimal Model of Dynamic Economic System with After-Effects-Research on dynamic economic system with after-effects(Ⅱ)

This paper presents the principle of optimization of sub dynamic programming for the dynamic economic system of multistage decision with after effects,and the algorithm for sub optimal strategy based upon the principle.

Creative Talents' Spatial Agglomeration Effects: an Empirical Analysis from Shanghai

Creative talents play a very important role in the vitality of a city. It is obvious that highly developed creative cities tend to have higher concentration of creative talents geographically. The article analyzed its effects on six aspects: information sharing,collective learning, talents' learning & growing, knowledge spillover,innovation and scale in Shanghai for last 10 years by using the entropy method based on the established effect index system with15 indices. It attempted to understand not only achievements and challenges,but also internal relations between the effects of creative talents' agglomeration in Shanghai. The article would be a contribution for enhancing the agglomeration of creative talents in cities,promoting the development of creative industry and enhancing urban vitality and innovation in China.

Economic Effects

The past two years have witnessed great fluctuations ininternational oil prices,and diplomatic efforts,both above andunder the table,by major powers around this issue.The currenttension in the war-threatened Iraq has added more uncertainties to thefuture world oil situation.Will the world oil supply and demand change?What impact would this exert on big powers’ oil strategy choices,geopolitics as well as world economy?What should China do in such asituation?To find the answers to these questions,at the invitation of theeditor of the Contemporary International Relations,seven experts fromChina Institute of Contemporary International Relations gathered to have adiscussion in early February this year.Naturally,they have differentviews over many issues.Still,we hope our readers would find theirdiscussion interesting.Following is the list of participants.

Assessing economic performance of the three major urban agglomerations in China by using Malmquist productivity index

Forty years of reform and opening up,China has become to the world’s second-largest economy with great success.However,it is an undoubted actuality that the economic mode of Chinese development is still at the extensive stage.China’s economy has shifted from a high-speed growth phase to a high-quality development phase.In this study,we analyzed three major urban agglomerations’total factor productivity index dynamically by means of Malmquist productivity i?ndex method.The results showed that MPI of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration was the highest,as the reasons of the effectiveness of dual-wheel driving both the technology progress and the cluster scale.The mean of MPI of Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration was fallen into decline by an average of 1.3%annually due to the rate of increase of the size of the cluster towards to optimal frontier was inferior to the relative risk reduction of technology progress.Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration MPI declined by an average of 2.2%annually as a result of the contribution of technology progress reducing.The study of the economic performance of three major urban agglomerations provides a theoretical basis and important practical value for urban development of high quality optimization.

For the Greater Good?—A Critical Reflection on Assessing Indirect Economic Effects Caused by Large Transport Projects

Investing in large transport projects affects the (potential) economic development of metropolitan areas. Yet, very little critical research has been performed to understand how to assess these effects. The relationship between infrastructure investments and regional economic development is complex and indirect, and many theoretical and methodological difficulties remain. On the one hand, the assumption that investing in infrastructure is important to sustain economic growth is sometimes doubted. On the other hand, it is argued that investments in infrastructure enhance the accessibility of urban regions and that in the slipstream of such investments, social problems in urban regions can be tackled as well. Despite these contrasting views, there is at least a consensus that transport infrastructure development depends on economic development and vice versa. Yet, in many cases, the method of assessing economic impacts highly affects the results. Therefore, this paper focuses on a critical reflection of methods for estimating economic effects of infrastructure investments. A critical evaluation is made based on Indonesian and Japanese cases. After conducting in-depth desk research on both cases, we found that the broader effects on affected group of people tend to be overlooked due to the problems of time and space dimensions, the chain reaction of effects, and inappropriate data practices. The assessment on the appraisal processes tends to overlook the broader economic implication due to narrow focus and the concept of efficiency of economic theory.

Measurement of Urban Economic Gravity of China’s Three Major Agglomerations and Its Implications for the Coordinated Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

This paper adopts the perspective of urban economic linkage and the modified urban economic gravity model to conduct a comparative analysis of the economic gravity among cities in China’s three major urban agglomerations,including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,the Yangtze River Delta,and the Pearl River Delta.The results show that,despite the ever-tightening economic linkages among cities in the urban agglomerations,the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region falls behind that of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta in terms of coordination,closeness,and balance.The economic linkages among cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are not as cohesive as they could be and display a significant“siphon effect”through Beijing and Tianjin as well as a prominently unidirectional economic flow.This study suggests that efforts should be put into directing the orderly flow of resources from Beijing and Tianjin to cities in Hebei and promoting a balanced economic flow among cities,thus facilitating the coordination of regional development.

Economic Agglomeration Should Not Be Blamed for Widening Income Gaps in China

Agglomeration of economic activities is a common phenomenon across the world. Theoretical and empirical studies have shown that agglomeration promotes dynamic efficiency, which in turn is conducive to the long-term prosperity of a country＇s economy. Compared with most countries, in China is very low, and Chinese cities the spatial concentration of various industries are relatively small and equal-sized. Thus, it is unnecessary to contain the agglomeration of economic activities in China. Widening regional gaps since pro-market reforms and opening-up in China should be ascribed to institutional barriers rather than agglomeration. Therefore, China should refrain from containing agglomeration and instead focus on integrating product and factor markets and improving education and health care in less developed areas.

Impacts and Demonstration Effects of Applying Long-acting Slow-release Fertilizer on Economic Yield of Peanut

[Objectives]To study the impacts and demonstration effects of long-acting slow-release fertilizer application on economic yield of peanut.[Methods]The 25,30,35,40,45,50 kg of long-acting slow-release fertilizers were applied to 667 m 2 of peanuts,and different amounts of urea were applied together.[Results]Applying 40 kg of long-acting slow-release fertilizer and 10.45 kg of urea had the best effect.Compared with the application of ordinary compound fertilizers,the plants did not age prematurely,the leaf diseases were mild,the stems and leaves remained dark green when harvested,and the stems and leaves had a longer functional period.Bearing shoots increased by 1.7,single-plant full pods increased by 2.4,double-seed peanuts increased by 3.2,empty pods decreased by 0.5,and single-seed peanuts decreased by 0.7.The experimental demonstration results show that the spring-sowed peanuts had an average yield increase of 29.0-67.2 kg/667 m 2,and the yield increase rate was 7.35%-16.89%,and the difference was extremely significant.[Conclusions]In the high-yield cultivation of peanuts,the application of long-acting slow-release fertilizer can be promoted to improve peanut production.

Economic Effects of China’s Import Expansion Strategy

Since 2018,China has enacted a string of policy initiatives to increase imports.To quantify this import expansion strategy’s economic effects,we created a large numerical general equilibrium model and quantitatively simulated the economic effects of the reductions of tariff and non-tariff barriers on China and other economies.Our simulation results show that overall,China’s import expansion strategy benefited both itself and others and contributed to employment,welfare,and trade growth in China and the rest of the world.In relative terms,however,China’s import expansion strategy benefited other countries more than it did itself and contributed more to the growth of the world economy.Additionally,the import expansion strategy may effectively promote China’s trade balance,and the trade equilibrium effect driven by the reduction of non-tariff barriers is more significant than that of tariff barriers.Furthermore,regarding the self-benefiting effects of import expansion,the effects of nontariff measures are significantly greater than those of tariff measures,and this result has policy implications for China’s import expansion strategy going forward.

Evolution and Determinants of Population Agglomeration in Less Developed Metropolitan Areas:A Case Study of the Taiyuan Metropolitan Area,China

It is of importance to enhance the urban areas'capacity for population aggregation in underdeveloped regions,aiming to rectify the imbalanced and insufficient pattern of economic development in China.Taking the Taiyuan Metropolitan Area(TMA)in central China as a case study,this paper examines the evolutionary process and characteristics of population agglomeration from 2000 to 2020,and identifies factors associated with agglomeration and their spatial effects.The findings indicated that:1)against the background of sustained population shrinkage in the provincial area,the TMA showed a demographic trend of steady increase,albeit with a decelerated growth rate.In the metropolitan area,urban population size continued to grow rapidly,whereas the rural areas endured sustained losses.Disparities in city size continued to widen,and the polarization of concentrated population in the core cities kept increasing.2)Agglomerations in both secondary and service industries had significant positive effects on local population agglomeration,with the former effect being stronger.Regional economic development,government fiscal expenditure,and financial advancement all contributed to facilitating local population clustering.From a spatial spillover perspective,service agglomeration and financial development promoted population agglomeration in surrounding areas.Conversely,fiscal expenditure inhibited such agglomeration.As for industrial agglomeration and regional economic development,their spatial spillover effects were non-significant.The results obtained reveal several policy implications aimed at enhancing the population agglomeration capacity of the metropolitan area in underdeveloped regions during the new era.

The impact of industrial transformation on green economic efficiency:New evidence based on energy use

Developing a green economy is key to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. This paper uses the SBM-GML index, which includes non-desired outputs, to measure the trend of regional green economic efficiency changes and analyze the impact mechanism and realization path of industrial transformation on green economic efficiency. The research results show that advanced industrial structure has a positive influence on green economic efficiency nationwide, while energy utilization structure and energy utilization efficiency have positive partial intermediary effects in the influence path;industrial structure rationalization is also significantly positively related to green economic efficiency nationwide, and the mediating effect of energy utilization is positive. The impact of industrial transformation on green economic efficiency has regional heterogeneity, and the mediating effect of energy use also differs. Among them, the impact effect in the eastern region is basically consistent with the national sample, but is negative in the central and western regions. This paper proposes countermeasures in terms of adjusting the industrial structure, improving energy efficiency, and perfecting industrial and energy policies, which can provide theoretical and practical references for promoting the transformation and upgrading of regional industrial structure, optimizing energy utilization, and advancing the efficiency of the national and regional green economy.

Transformation power or development pressure:economic growth targets and urban carbon productivity

Maintaining moderate economic growth targets(EGTs)is the key for local governments to effectively implement the“carbon peak and carbon neutrality”goals under the refreshed development pattern.Utilizing panel data of 276 prefecture-level cities in China's Mainland from 2010 to 2020,and employing methods such as intermediary and threshold models,this study empirically analyzes the internal mechanism of EGT’s impact on urban carbon productivity(UCP).Our findings demonstrate that:①The overall EGT during the analyzed period is not conducive to improving UCP.This conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests.This effect is more pronounced in the central region and resource-based cities than in the east-west region and non resource-based cities.②EGT not only directly suppresses UCP but also exerts indirect negative impacts on UCP from three aspects:delaying the digital economy(DE),constraining financial expansion(FE),and hindering green technology innovation(GTI).This negative indirect effect is similar to or even surpasses the direct effect,suggesting that the internal relationship between EGT and“dual-carbon”goals should be re-evaluated from a new compound perspective.③EGT not only has a simple linear impact on UCP but also significantly exhibits a dynamic evolution pattern in inverted“U”shape.That is,as EGT continuously upgrades,a nonlinear impact on UCP emerges in the form of“promoting first,suppressing later”.This indicates that surpassing the“degree”limit for EGT will be detrimental to the improvement of UCP.This study broadens the scope of carbon productivity analysis by introducing a new perspective centered on EGT.The insights gleaned from this research offer valuable guidance for local governments to effectively manage economic growth expectations and promote the synchronized achievement of dual-carbon objectives.

On Concept of Dynamic Economic System With After－Effects─Research on Dynamic Economic System with After－Effects （Ⅰ）

The definition of multi-stage decision dynamic system with after-effects is given.As a special case of it, the definition of dynamic economic system with after-effects is proposed.

Does green finance drive high-quality economic development?-Based on empirical evidence from China

Green finance,as an important branch of modern finance,has far-reaching significance that is not limited to the financial sector.By promoting green investment and optimizing resource allocation,green finance plays a crucial role in reducing environmental pollution and carbon emissions.At the same time,it can also promote the quality of economic growth and achieve the harmonious development of economy,society and environment.Based on China's provincial panel data from 2008 to 2022,the direct impact and indirect transmission mechanism of green finance on high-quality economic development are analyzed by constructing a dynamic panel model and a mediation effect model.It is found that green finance not only directly promotes the high-quality development of the economy,but also indirectly promotes the sustainable and healthy growth of the economy through the transmission channel of technological innovation.This mediating effect of technological innovation is as high as 78.65%,which shows the close connection between green finance and high-quality economic development.In addition,the study also found that the direct promotion effect of green finance on high-quality economic development has significant regional heterogeneity.The results of this study suggest that when formulating relevant policies,it is necessary to fully consider the actual situation of each region and tailor them to the local conditions to ensure the in-depth promotion of green finance and the overall development of the economy.