Measuring the spatial and temporal disparities in China’s regional economic development and identifying the underlying influencing factors are crucial for the precise implementation of regional coordinated development policies. Utilizing methods such as inequality index, Kernel density estimation, Markov transition probability matrix, and geographical variance decomposition, this study measures the economic development disparities across spatial units including prefecture-level cities, provincial regions, and seven major regions in China from 1997 to 2021. Furthermore, the research uses the spatial econometric models to analyze the mechanisms influencing regional economic development disparities. The study finds that economic development inequity in spatial units, including prefecture-level cities, provincial regions, and the seven major regions, show a trend of first rising and then declining. Kernel density graphs indicate that the economic development levels across spatial units are continuously increasing, but the evolution trends of the seven major regions are more complex and diverse compared to those of prefecture-level cities and provincial regions. There are significant changes in the rank order of per capita real GDP among prefecture-level cities and provincial regions, highlighting a competitive effect. The change in the proportion of geographical variance shows that the economic development inequality between prefecture-level cities is gradually exceeding the economic development inequality between provincial regions. The results of the spatial econometric model suggest that market economic reforms, fiscal decentralization, and the level of openness to the world are the key factors to influence regional economic development disparities. The conclusions of this study provide valuable insights for formulating precise regional development policies and narrowing regional economic development disparities.
LI Lan-bing
,
CHEN Jian-lei
. A study of spatial and temporal disparities in China’s regional economic development and influence factors[J]. Urban Problems, 2024
, 347(6)
: 4
-14
.
DOI: 10.13239/j.bjsshkxy.cswt.240601
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