The Evolution and Differentiation of Economic Convergence of Resource-based Cities in Northeast China

A key target of the overall strategy implementation for regional development since the 18th Party Congress of China has involved taking measures to narrow regional disparities. This is because resource-based cities' economic development has fallen below general levels due to resource exhaustion and an unbalanced industrial structure, among other factors. Further, an economic gap has long existed between Northeast China's large number of resource-based cities and non-resource-based cities. This article comprehensively studies the economic convergence of Northeast China's resource-based cities and non-resource-based cities from 1996 to 2015 by using a dynamic panel to analyze not only the economic development of different industries and types of cities, but also the main factors that influence economic development. The empirical results demonstrate that economic convergence exists in both resource-based and non-resource-based cities, but the economic gap between them has clearly narrowed since the implementation of a strategy to revitalize the Northeast's old industrial base. Shrinking cities are the fastest to converge, as mature cities are slower and regenerating cities are the slowest; regarding industry structure, the secondary industry dominates the economy in mature and shrinking cities, and the tertiary industry in regenerating cities. The primary stimulus in resource-based cities' economic development involves upgrading the industrial structure and investing in human capital. As China faces a ‘new normal' economy, resource-based cities in Northeast China should restructure the economy and perfect their market system to avoid again widening the economic gap.

Regional Economic Convergence Mechanisms in the Yangtze River Delta

This paper decomposes the economic growth of the Yangtze River Delta into physical capital accumulation, improved efficiency, technological progress, and human capital input based on the non-parametric DEA method. It then examines the convergence effects of these four factors and the growth rate of the Delta using spatial statistic and econometric techniques and employing the absolute convergence equation. Our empirical findings show that the economic contribution of physical capital drives the real economic growth of the Delta＇s counties, cities and districts. Regional economic growth exhibits a significant spatial dependence which has had a marked effect on trends in economic growth. The neo- classical economic growth factor, physical capital accumulation, is the only factor involved in narrowing the gap among different parts of the Delta region and has driven the trend of economic convergence. Other new economic growth factors such as human capital, improved efficiency and technological progress have resulted in divergence in the Delta＇s economic growth and have had a profound impact on the economic disparities among different parts of the Delta region.

Diversity, Cohesion and the Development of the European Integration

The European Union （EU） this year has entered into the next phase of its existence, not only in terms of new economic conditions of the unwinding of the financial and economic crisis, but also on the basis of the results of European Parliament elections and the adoption of the EU financial fi＇amework for the period from 2014 to 2020. These indisputable facts does not change our view of the situation in which the EU is, or at major tasks whose managing can be considered as condition of its continued existence as an important part of the global economy. As the fundamental problem of the EU, persisting differences in economic level of the member states is considered. The aim of this paper is not to formulate and even to propose how the EU should look like in the future, but to assess criteria of decision making about concept of its future direction. In this context, the verification of argument will be performed, that only the integration of the countries that have common interests and objectives respectively are able to make the same efforts to meet them, is in certain stages of integration possible and functional. Conversely, a broader territorial structured integration of countries with significantly different economic parameters is feasible and functional only at lower stages of integration. This paper starts from that the process of economic convergence among member states as a condition for integration can be realized at the lower stage of the integration process, in terms of economic and monetary union, then only the expense of reducing the dynamics of economic development of integration group as a whole. Some degree of equilibrium of economic levels represents an important condition for the success of the integration project. To meet this goal, current differences in economic level of individual EU member states （comparative analysis using indicators of growth rate and development of GDP/capita） will be analyzed, including the assessment of the cost of the EU for the implementation of cohesion policy, both in terms of the economic crisis and the phase of requirement to the revival of the European economy. In this context, also the effectiveness of institutional arrangements of decision-making procedures will be assessed.