HAS THE PEARL RIVER DELTA BEEN AN EXPORT-ORIENTED ECONOMY?

Ever since the introduction of the Open Door Policy, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) has enjoyed very phenomenal export and economic growth. As a result, many scholars have tried to associate the two phenomena and described the region as an,'export-oriented economy'.However, these studies, mostly based on the rapid export growth of the PRD and its status as the most important exporting area of the country,have not paid any heed to the actual export-orientation of the regional economy and, hence, cannot prove that the PRD has been a 'truly'export-oriented economy. in view of these shortcomings. the present paper attempts to re-examine the issue from the viewpoint of the PRD's local economy, at both the regional and county levels. The study period is from 1981 to 1990. Judging from the export-dependency indices and the relative importance of exports in accounting for the economic growth and industrialization of the PRD, this paper concludes that the region, though having signs of increasing export-orientation, cannot be categorized as a 'truly' export-oriented economy. In addition, it also shows that most of the 'evidences' or 'common beliefs' behind the notion of an export-oriented economy in the RD are illusionary, if not erroneous. Finally, the paper explores into the reasons behind the low export-orientation of the PRD and tries to sugyst some ways for boosting the export-orientation of the PRD and tries to suggest some ways for boosting the export-orientation of the region.

Impetus for Export-Oriented Economy——Review of foreign capital utilization in Hunan during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period

Since its implementation of the openingpolicy,China has witnessed greatsuccess in foreign fund utilization.Hunan,situated in the hinterland,beganto introduce foreign capital a little later thanthe coastal areas.In 1979,Hunan began toconduct processing and assembling businessand compensation trade,but gained only afew million US dollars.A vast change wastook place in the Eighth Five-Year Planperiod,achieving a great quantitative andqualitative rise in foreign capital utilizationas compared with the sixth and seventh Five-Year Plan periods.In the past five years,Hunan has approved 4,001 foreign-fundedprojects,a 5,5-fold increase over the total forthe previous 12 years(1979-1990),including3,584 projects directly financed by

Export-Oriented Economy in Shenzhen

In the past 15 years Shenzhen has made great achievements in its export-oriented economy. According to customs’ statistics, the city’s export value stood at US $ 14.3 billion in 1993 and US $ 12.1 billion in the first three quarters of 1994. The total import and export value was US $ 23.8 billion in the first three quarters of 1994, a 1, 500-fold increase over 1979 and an average annual growth rate of 70%. Export trade held a small part in Shenzhen’s economy

Zhangjiagang's Strategies for the Export-oriented Economy

Following its fast development over the past dozen years, especially the past three years, Zhangjiagang, a coastal city in Jiangsu Province has established conditions for the further advance of its export-oriented economy. An official of the city announced to the press in Beijing recently that with the aim of building Zhangjiagang into a modern port city by the end of the century, the following three strategies have been adopted:

The coordinated evolution of ecological environment,public service,and tourism economy along the Silk Road Economic Belt,using the Dual-Carbon Targets

Carbon peak and carbon neutrality(dual-carbon)are important targets for the international response to climate change.The Silk Road Economic Belt is a strategic resource region and is important for future ecological environment and tourism development.Based on the“dual-carbon”targets,the Single index quantification,Multiple index synthesis,and Poly-criteria integration evaluation model were used in this study to measure the coordinated development index of the ecological environment,public service,and tourism economy along the Silk Road Economic Belt and to analyze its spatial and temporal evolution.Further,it explores the dynamic evolution and development trend of the three systems using the Kernel Density and Grey Markov Prediction Model.The results show that the coordinated development index along this region needs to be improved during the study period.Furthermore,the coordinated development index of the Southwest region is relatively higher than that of the Northwest region.From the development trend of the three systems,all of them develop in a stable manner;however,the tourism economy system is easily affected by external disturbances.The coordinated development index of the three systems changes dynamically and tends to be in a good state of coordination.There is a certain spatial and temporal heterogeneity.The gravity center of the coordinated development index has been in the Southwest region.During the forecast period,the coordinated development index along this region will improve significantly,while insufficient and unbalanced development will continue.

Research on the Digital Economy's Impact on China's Economic Growth:Based on the Variations in Urbanization Levels Across China's Eastern,Central,and Western Regions and Sectoral Heterogeneity

This paper uses inter-provincial panel data from 2011 to 2017,a linear regression model,and a threshold model to conduct empirical analyses of the impact of the digital economy on China's overall economic growth and the three main sectors of industry.The paper then investigates the impact and effects the digital economy has had on the economic growth of the three main sectors of industry in China's eastern,central,and western regions.Finally,the paper investigates the most significant differences among the various regions and the threshold effects of urbanization levels on the relationship between the digital economy and economic growth.The findings indicate a significantly positive correlation between the digital economy and regional economic growth.Moreover,geographical factors notably influence this correlation.The digital economy exerts a positive effect on all sectors of industry.It may not substantially impact industrial development in regions with highly developed infrastructure.Regarding the other regions,the digital economy exhibits varying degrees of impact due to the differences in the specific indicators.The conclusion drawn by the threshold model is that the magnitude of the threshold effect correlates with geographic factors.No threshold effect was observed in the eastern region,while the threshold effect occurred in the central region when the urbanization levels for the provinces were below 0.6645.Similarly,the threshold effect was noted in the western region when the urbanization level was below 0.3931.Considering all of this,the study also offers policy recommendations that will help balance the regional development of digital economies,accelerate the digital transformation of traditional industries,enhance digital infrastructure construction,refine the formulation and implementation of data policy,and establish relevant incentive mechanisms.

Research Progress of High-Quality and Equilibrium Economic Development of Ethnic Regions in the Context of Digital Economy

A new generation of information technology is driving the growth of digital economy across the world.In recent years,China has attached great importance to the development of digital economy and digital technology.With the support of a series of policies,the digital industry has been able to develop at an astounding rate,and at the same time the integration of other industries with digital technology has been strengthened.The profound changes in production factors,production methods,and production approaches have promoted high-quality regional economic development.Literature statistics have shown an increasing trend in digital economy research in recent years.In this paper,literature on digital economy development,digital economy and high-quality economic development,the current situation of economic development in ethnic regions,and digital economy and economic development in ethnic regions is recapitulated in an attempt to learn from existing studies.

Data-Empowered High-Quality Economic Development: Mechanisms and Pathways

To achieve high-quality economic development,it is imperative to prioritize the real economy and foster new factors for economic growth.Data,as a new factor of production,plays a pivotal role in facilitating the seamless integration between digital technology and the real economy.It possesses inherent attributes and techno-economic characteristics that enable the extraction of value across various processes,including production,transaction,consumption,and regulatory supervision.The integration with digital technology enhances the productivity and efficiency of the real economy by facilitating service sector digitalization,accelerating the growth of the new real economy,and supporting the virtual economy in its role of serving the real economy.At present,unleashing the value of data is hindered by inadequate fundamental systems for the data,a lack of activity in the transaction market,and the underutilization of the data as a factor of production by enterprises in the real economy.Therefore,it is advised that data be fully utilized to develop the real economy through the four-pronged approach of“enhancing support for the high-quality provision of the data,expediting the integration of the data into the real economy,promoting the high-quality development of the real economy,and enhancing public service and governance systems”.

SAMR releases Sharing Economy Standardization Development Report 2023

The sharing economy prospers in China due to people’s awareness of resource conservation, and it is often conducted on online platforms.Recently, the Development Research Center of SAMR released the Sharing Economy Standardization Development Repor t 2023.

Analysis and Prospects of the World Economic Situation 2023-2024

At present,the growth momentum of the world economy is clearly insufficient,and faced with many unstable,uncertain and unpredictable factors,the world economy is generally on a downward path.From the perspective of trend changes,the world economy will still be in the process of reshaping its growth momentum in 2024,with positive factors accumulating but downward pressure remaining.

Innovation Analysis of Rural Agricultural Economic Management Model in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative

[Objectives]To explore innovative strategies for rural agricultural economic development in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative.[Methods]This research adopts the method of literature review and field research,systematically combs the research results related to the Belt and Road Initiative and rural agricultural economic management,and deeply understands the actual situation of rural agricultural economic management.[Results]The research shows that in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative,the rural agricultural economy is facing new development opportunities and challenges,but there are also some problems.In the new period,we should accelerate the innovative development of rural agricultural economy by promoting market-oriented reform,strengthening scientific and technological innovation,optimizing the industrial structure,deepening international cooperation and other measures.The Belt and Road Initiative provides an important opportunity for the innovation of rural agricultural economic management.Rural agricultural economic management should be actively integrated into the Belt and Road construction to improve the level of rural agricultural economic management.[Conclusions]This study provides useful exploration and reference for the innovation of rural agricultural economic management models,which helps to promote the healthy development of rural agricultural economy and achieve the goal of rural revitalization.

Spatial Differentiation and Convergence Trend of High-quality Development Level of China’s Tourism Economy

This paper aims to interpret the connotation of high-quality development of tourism economy(HQTE)from the perspective of the new development concepts of innovation,coordination,green,openness and sharing,and then to evaluate the spatial differenti-ation of China’s HQTE based on provincial panel data from 2009 to 2018.Specifically,we employ the spatial convergence model to ex-plore the absolute and conditionalβconvergence trends of HQTE in the whole country and the eastern,central and western regions of China.Our empirical results reveal that:1)within the decade,from 2009 to 2018,regions of China with the highest HQTE index is its eastern region followed by the central region and then the western region,but the fastest growing one is the western region of China fol-lowed by the central region and then the eastern region.2)Whether or not the spatial effect is included,there are absolute and condition-alβconvergence in HQTE in the whole country and aforementioned three regions.3)The degree of government attention as well as the level of economic development and location accessibility are the positive driving factors for the convergence of HQTE in the whole country and the three regions.The degree of marketization and human capital have not passed the significance test either in the whole country or in the three regions.The above conclusions could deepen the understanding of the regional imbalance and spatial conver-gence characteristics of HQTE,clarify the primary development objects,and accomplish the goal of China’s HQTE.

A Study of the Impact of the Digital Economy on the Efficiency of Urban Green Economy--Based on the Yangtze River Delta City Cluster

This paper adopts the non-expected output-super-efficiency SBM(Slacks-Based Model)model and principal component analysis to calculate the green economy efficiency and the digital economy level of 27 prefecture-level cities in China’s Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration between 2011 and 2019,respectively,and examines the impact of the digital economy on the green economy efficiency by using benchmark regression and mechanism analysis.The findings show that,first,the digital economy has a significant contribution to the green economic efficiency of cities,and this conclusion still holds after robustness tests such as replacing explanatory and interpreted variables and introducing province-fixed effects.Second,through the mechanism test,it is found that the digital economy can indirectly promote urban green economic efficiency through the positive mechanism effect of promoting industrial structure upgrading.

Coupling coordinated development among digital economy,regional innovation,and talent employment:A case study in the Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle,China

Coordinative development across various systems,particularly the economic,social,cultural,and human resources subsystems,is a key aspect of urban sustainability and has a direct impact on the quality of urbanization.The Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle,comprising Hangzhou City,Huzhou City,Jiaxing City,and Shaoxing City,was the first metropolitan circle approved by the National Development and Reform Commission(NDRC)as a demonstration of economic transformation in China.To evaluate the coupling coordination degree of the four cities and analyze the coordinative development in three systems(including digital economy,regional innovation,and talent employment),we collected panel data during 2015–2022 from these four cities.The development level of the three systems was evaluated by the standard deviation method and comprehensive development index.The results are as follows:(1)the level of coupling coordinated development of the three systems in the Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle was relatively low;(2)the coupling coordination degree of the four cities in the Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle showed significant regional differences,among which Hangzhou City was in the leading position,and Huzhou,Jiaxing,and Shaoxing cities made steady but slow progress in the coupling development of the three systems;and(3)the development of digital economy and talent employment needs to be strengthened.This study contributes to the coordinative development of Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle by innovatively focusing on the coupling coordination relationship among digital economy,regional innovation,and talent employment,which also meets the industrial layout of Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle.In this way,the optimal allocation and sustainable development of digital economy,regional innovation,and talent employment in the Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle can be achieved.

China Continues to Bring Confidence to Global Economy Recovery

Looking forward to 2024,what opportunities and challenges will global development face?In particular,how can the global economy get rid of the“sequelae”of the pandemic?At the 170th“Monthly Talk on the Economy”held recently by the China Center for International Economic Exchange,experts analyzed the world’s economy since the outbreak of COVID-19,and made clear the context of and provided suggestions for global development in 2024.

New Quality Productive Forces:Future Driving Force of China's Economy

The new quality productive force is undoubtedly one of the biggest focuses during this year's Two Sessions,and was not only included in the government work report for the first time,but was also listed as one of the top ten tasks in terms of government work in 2024.

2024:China’s Economy Keeps Recovering with Contribution of New Growth Drivers in Several Industries

A ccording to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics,China’s gross domestic product(GDP)exceed RMB 126 trillion in 2023,an increase of 5.2%over the previous year.“China’s economy has successfully achieved its target and delivered a good and substantial report card,”Kang Yi,Director General of the International Bureau of Statistics,said at a press conference recently.

The Impact of the Digital Economy on Rural Residents’Working Hours:Mechanisms and Empirical Evidence

The rapid development of the digital economy has provided a new impetus for rural residents to extend their working hours.Based on the data collected by the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey(CLDS)in 2014,2016,and 2018,this paper measured the development level of the digital economy in China from the perspectives of internet development and digital financial inclusion,and tested the mechanisms of how the digital economy affected rural residents’working hours.The results showed that the digital economy extended rural residents’working hours by expanding information channels and enhancing human capital,and this mechanism was affected by heterogeneity in rural residents’educational background,age,and social capital.Building on these findings,this paper holds that to increase rural residents’income by extending their working hours and achieving common prosperity for all,it is necessary to expand the opportunities for rural residents to participate in skills training and promote their accumulation of human capital.

Principles for Designing New Types of Housing for a Strong and Resilient Local Economy in the Republic of Congo

The Congolese population is organised into households, which are thus headed by a chief who ensures the social well-being, development and integration into working life of the individuals in his charge. This study examines the functional principles of new housing design as an instrument for transforming the (current) failing economy into a strong and resilient one. Accordingly, a literature review of the practice of designing and building housing in human settlements in the Congo revealed the state of the art on this subject. An analysis of the existing housing stock from a demographic, social and economic point of view made it possible to identify the most common household sizes and numbers, as well as the lifestyle processes that determine the need for developed space. To this end, the experimental method was used to propose configuration plans for various new types of dwelling. To this end, the study highlighted the link between people’s standard of living and the effectiveness of their involvement in the local economy. To achieve the aims of the National Development Plan (NDP), particular attention must be paid to solving the housing problem. The existing housing stock actively contributes to the problems associated with unemployment and insecurity. Functional principles for the design of new types of housing have been developed. Four model types are proposed in line with the demographic structure of the population, their socio-economic characteristics and their lifestyle.

Golden Opportunities in The Silver Economy

The government work report delivered at the second session of the 14th National People’s Congress(NPC)in Beijing on March 5 stated that“a further push will be made to develop the silver economy.”Before this,on January 15,the State Council issued Opinions on Developing the Silver Economy to Enhance the Well-being of the Elderly.The first in China dedicated to supporting the“silver economy,”the document outlines goals and measures for the development of the sector.So what can be done to seize the new opportunities emerging alongside the growing aging population to advance high-quality economic development?