Research on the Formation Mechanism for the Co-agglomeration of Producer Services and Manufacturing in the Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is witnessing a surge in economic development,showcasing robust resilience in the co-agglomeration of producer services and manufacturing industries,along with the increasingly evident impact generated by such co-agglomeration.Based on the panel data collected from ten cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area(excluding Zhaoqing)spanning from 2010 to 2020,we examined the formation mechanism for industrial co-agglomeration in the area from three dimensions:industrial correlation,spatial correlation,and policy guidance.Our analysis was based on a vertical correlation model and was validated using the seemingly unrelated regressions(SUR)method.The findings are as follows:(a)There currently exists no spatial correlation between the producer services and manufacturing sectors in the area,and the correlation between the two remains limited to the former providing specialized services to the latter.(b)Policy guidance has a positive impact on the location selection of industries within the area.By implementing a comprehensive range of favorable policies,local governments can provide effective and scientifically guided recommendations regarding the location of producer services and manufacturing sectors.Therefore,it is crucial to foster the collaboration between producer services and manufacturing sectors and further enhance the co-agglomeration between the two sectors.In addition,the government authorities should also strive to enhance its economic governance capacity,thereby facilitating the formation of such co-agglomeration.

What's So Special about China's Producer Services?An Input–output Analysis

In the present study, five stylized facts about China ＂s producer services are established through international, intersectoral and intertemporal comparisons based on input --output tables. First, the overall service input ratio is the lowest in all the sample economies. Second, most producer services are supplied by the traditional labor-intensive sectors. Third, manufacturing is the biggest user of producer services, and service industry is the second, while the opposite is true for most of the other sample economies. Fourth, unlike other economies, China ＂s ＂R＆D＂ is characterized more by consumer services than producer services. Fifth, China has fairly lower service input ratios in almost all the industries. The backward and forward linkages coefficients are both smaller for ＂real estate activities＂ and ＂finance and insurance. ＂＂ Policy reform should focus not only on specific producer services but also on reducing obstacles that are inhibiting the balanced development of diverse producer services that will help China to optimize its economic structure.

Post-industrial Economic Restructuring and Wage Inequality in Urban China, 2003-2015: A Sectoral Perspective

Income inequality in urban China has attracted growing attention from China’s urban researchers and policy makers. Whereas many studies have interrogated the pattern and process of the income gap in Chinese cities undergoing the institutional transformation from plan to market, relatively little is known about how such unequal distribution of income is related to China’s ongoing structural transformation toward a post-industrial economy. Drawing on a decomposition methodology based on the Theil index, this study aimed to address this lacuna through an empirical investigation of China’s urban wage inequality from a sectoral perspective. Our empirical study identified the low-wage manufacturing sector and the high-wage producer services sector as the two biggest contributors to urban wage inequality in China. Urban wage inequality within the producer services was found to be caused by the spatial concentration of a disproportionate number of high-paying jobs in a few developed, high-tier city-regions on the eastern coast. Our empirical findings have important implications for the formulation of policies to address the income inequality that plagues China’s continuing urbanization.

The development of producer services in China

This paper introduces the background of development of the producer service sector in China.According to detailed statistics,several development characteristics are analyzed in the various aspects such as the proportion and scale,absolute development level,internal structure,contribution rate to GDP,labor productivity,investment returns,foreign direct investment,and so on.Then,it summarizes the development experiences of China’s producer services in regards to theoretical innovation,development strategies,traction roles,development of sub-sectors,supply innovation,and expansion of openness levels.Finally,it analyzes several problems in China’s producer service sector during the course of development,concerning development level,internal structure,exporting capacity,and regional distribution of China’s producer services.It points out the development direction of softening production factors.

Manufacturing Demand and Producer Services Efficiency in China:Threshold Effect of Economic Development

Considering the important role the demand from manufacturing has played in the development of producer services,this paper analyzes the influence mechanism of manufacturing demand on producer services efficiency through two channels,which are the scale effect and innovation incentives.Meanwhile,the paper also evaluates the moderating effect of economic development level on the relationship between manufacturing demand and producer services efficiency.Based on the panel data of China’s manufacturing industry and producer services from 1995 to 2014,the empirical result shows that:(1)the demand from manufacturing was helpful to improve producer services efficiency,and compared with the labor-intensive manufacturing,the demand from capital-intensive manufacturing played a more important role in improving producer services efficiency;(2)at different stages of economic development,the promoting effect of manufacturing demand on producer services efficiency showed a nonlinear threshold effect rather than a simple linear effect,namely after crossing a certain threshold of economic development level,the promoting effect would be more significant.More specifically the threshold level faced by capital-intensive manufacturing industry was higher than that faced by labor-intensive manufacturing industry.These findings may be helpful for governments to make industrial development strategy.

The Source of Momentum for Producer Services’Growth China:A Research from the Perspective of Driving Force Decomposition

Under the background of growth driving force conversion,this paper examines the source of growth in the producer services sector in China with the stochastic frontier analysis(SFA)model,using provincial service sector data during 2005-2016.Research fi ndings show that(1)the total factor productivity(TFP)of producer services in China is characterized by multi-stage changes,with technological progress being the primary driving force and industrial growth being“technology-led”.(2)Innovation,represented by increased TFP,is the leading driving force of producer services’growth and the overall structure of driving forces is reasonable;(3)the driven structure of niche industries varies greatly,and the conversion of driving forces must take into account industry characteristics;(4)as developed regions are more capable of coping with external impacts and policy stimuli,innovation is the main driving force for them,while for other regions,where innovation as a driving force is weak and old driving forces has led to extensive growth,their structure way evolve to an irrational state.It is necessary to seize opportunities to promote innovation-driven model and take producer services sector as the main battlefield for the cultivation of new driving forces,giving full consideration to the heterogeneity of different industries and regions.

Research on China City Network Based on Producer Service Industries

Based on the concept of the world city network(WCN), this paper analyzes city network that is based on producer service industries in China's Mainland at three levels. The corresponding findings include: firstly, at the sub-node level, the location decision-making of producer service industries is no longer merely dependent on linear expansion along the hinterland to establish spatial monopoly, but on a network layout mode based on setting up branch offices in core cities to maximize the profits; secondly, at the city node level, Beijing and Shanghai have become the two major cities for the agglomeration of producer service industries. The coastal city clusters are the principal areas for the concentration of producer service industries, while the majority of other cities are in the peripheral area of the network where there are comparatively low connectivities; thirdly, at the city network level, the primacy effect of Beijing and Shanghai in the city network is extremely signifi cant and the linkage among core cities, namely, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, in the three major city clusters forms the core network of the producer service industries in China's Mainland.

生产性服务业集聚对PM2.5的影响——以黄河流域为例

Regional and persistent PM_(2.5) pollution seriously undermines the development of urban ecological civilizations and the advancement of high-quality economies.The producer service sector,an example of a typical knowledge-intensive service industry,plays an important role in advancing the manufacturing industry and fostering economic growth while concurrently improving urban environmental conditions.Based on panel data of prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2006 to 2019,this study constructed a Spatial Durbin Model and a mediation effect model to comprehensively explore the impact of producer services agglomeration on PM_(2.5) pollution.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)From 2006 to 2019,PM_(2.5) pollution in the study area exhibited an initial rise followed by a subsequent decline,with notable spatial heterogeneity.PM_(2.5) pollution in the lower reaches of the Yellow River was significantly higher than in the middle and upper reaches.In addition,the spatial pattern of producer services agglomeration showed distinct “core-edge” characteristics.(2) The agglomeration of producer services had a significant negative impact on local and adjacent PM_(2.5) pollution,and there was a more pronounced haze reduction effect in the case of specialized agglomerations of producer services and low-end producer services.(3) The agglomeration of producer services indirectly improved PM_(2.5) pollution by promoting technological innovation and optimizing industrial structure,with the latter playing a greater mediating effect.This study not only helps expand the theoretical and empirical research on producer services agglomeration but also offers valuable insights for pursuing a green transformation of the Yellow River Basin by optimizing industrial patterns through the producer services sector.This approach represents a reference for curbing PM_(2.5) pollution and guiding the region toward a greener future.

A novel method for approximating intercity networks： An empirical comparison for validating the city networks in two Chinese city-regions

A network perspective has increasingly become an organizational paradigm for understanding regional spatial structures. Based on a critical overview of existing empirical models for estimating intercity networks based on firm linkages, this study extends the re- cently proposed regional corporate city model algorithm by proposing a new method for ap- proximating urban networks based on the Iocational strategies of firms. The new method considers both regional and hierarchical network features and avoids the information loss associated with the conversion from two-mode firm-city networks to one-mode city-city networks. In addition, networks estimated by using the method proposed herein are suitable when employing social network analysis. Finally, this method is empirically validated by ex- amining intercity firm networks formed by advanced producer services firms in China＇s two largest metropolitan areas, namely the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. The pre- sented empirical analysis suggests two main findings. First, in contrast to conventional methods （e.g., the interlocking city network model）, our new method produces regional and hierarchical urban networks that more closely resemble reality. Second, the new method al- lows us to use social network analysis to assess betweenness and closeness centralities. However, regardless of the model applied, the validity of any method that measures urban networks depends on the soundness of its underlying assumptions about how network actors （firms, in our case） interact.