IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2016i6p554-d72017.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Studies of the Relationship between City Size and Urban Benefits in China Based on a Panel Data Model

Author

Listed:
  • Wenbiao Zhang

    (Xinjiang Institute of Geography and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Degang Yang

    (Xinjiang Institute of Geography and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China)

  • Jinwei Huo

    (Xinjiang Institute of Geography and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China)

Abstract

Policy regarding the size of cities is an important component of China’s urban policy prescription. We used a curvilinear regression model in this study to identify the optimal function and conducted curve panel data regression analysis on the panel data of the benefits of the economy, ecosystem services, and city size in China. In doing so, we obtained the regression relationship between city size and the benefits of the economy, environment, and resources of a city. Our main findings are as follows: (1) city size is not the most important factor determining a city’s benefits. However, there is a significant difference in the average city benefit between cities of various sizes; (2) city per capita GDP increase exhibited an inverted-N-shaped relationship with increasing city size, initially decreasing but subsequently increasing. The city size corresponding to the maximum value was usually higher than or close to the actual city size. Thus, it can be concluded that when a city’s population is more than 1 million, its per capita output increases; (3) a city’s resource services benefits all exhibited the trend of improving with increasing city size. This trend was particularly pronounced among cities with a population of less than 1 million; and (4) a city’s environmental services benefits exhibited an inverted-U-shaped relationship with city size, initially increasing but subsequently decreasing.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenbiao Zhang & Degang Yang & Jinwei Huo, 2016. "Studies of the Relationship between City Size and Urban Benefits in China Based on a Panel Data Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-18, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:6:p:554-:d:72017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/6/554/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/6/554/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. anonymous, 1995. "Does the bouncing ball lead to economic growth?," Regional Update, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, issue Jul, pages 1-2,4-6.
    2. Overman, Henry G. & Ioannides, Yannis M., 2001. "Cross-Sectional Evolution of the U.S. City Size Distribution," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 543-566, May.
    3. N. Rashevsky, 1943. "Contributions to the theory of human relations: VII. Outline of a mathematical theory of the sizes of cities," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 8(2), pages 87-90, June.
    4. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    5. Ahjond S. Garmestani & Craig R. Allen & K. Michael Bessey, 2005. "Time-series Analysis of Clusters in City Size Distributions," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(9), pages 1507-1515, August.
    6. Eaton, Jonathan & Eckstein, Zvi, 1997. "Cities and growth: Theory and evidence from France and Japan," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4-5), pages 443-474, August.
    7. Henderson, J. Vernon, 1986. "Efficiency of resource usage and city size," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 47-70, January.
    8. Charles T. Stewart, Jr. & James T. Bennett, 1975. "Urban Size and Structure and Private Expenditures for Gasoline in Large Cities," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(4), pages 365-373.
    9. Tolley, George S., 1974. "The welfare economics of city bigness," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 324-345, July.
    10. Gerald A. Carlino, 1982. "Manufacturing Agglomeration Economies As Returns To Scale: A Production Function Approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 95-108, January.
    11. Roberta Capello & Roberto Camagni, 2000. "Beyond Optimal City Size: An Evaluation of Alternative Urban Growth Patterns," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(9), pages 1479-1496, August.
    12. Roberto Camagni & Roberta Capello & Andrea Caragliu, 2013. "One or infinite optimal city sizes? In search of an equilibrium size for cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 51(2), pages 309-341, October.
    13. Xiao-Ping Zheng, 2007. "Measurement of Optimal City Sizes in Japan: A Surplus Function Approach," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(5-6), pages 939-951, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Magdaléna Pichlerová & Dilek Önkal & Anthony Bartlett & Jozef Výbošťok & Viliam Pichler, 2021. "Variability in Forest Visit Numbers in Different Regions and Population Segments before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-9, March.
    2. Li Na & Yangling Zhao & Luo Guo, 2022. "Coupling Coordination Analysis of Ecosystem Services and Urbanization in Inner Mongolia, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Karsten Grunewald & Olaf Bastian ., 2017. "Special Issue: “Maintaining Ecosystem Services to Support Urban Needs”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-9, September.
    4. Shan Liu & Mingxia Yang & Yuling Mou & Yanrong Meng & Xiaolu Zhou & Changhui Peng, 2020. "Effect of Urbanization on Ecosystem Service Values in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration of China from 2000 to 2014," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-15, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:kbb:dpaper:2012-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Rafael Gonz�lez-Val & Luis Lanaspa, 2016. "Patterns in US Urban Growth, 1790-2000," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 289-309, February.
    3. Bo‐sin Tang & Winky K.O. Ho & Siu Wai Wong, 2021. "Sustainable development scale of housing estates: An economic assessment using machine learning approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 708-718, July.
    4. Fumitoshi Mizutani & Tomoyasu Tanaka & Noriyoshi Nakayama, 2015. "Estimation of optimal metropolitan size in Japan with consideration of social costs," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1713-1730, June.
    5. Euijune Kim & Geoffrey Hewings & Kyung-Min Nam, 2014. "Optimal Urban Population Size: National vs Local Economic Efficiency," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(2), pages 428-445, February.
    6. Bumsoo Lee & Peter Gordon, 2007. "Urban Spatial Structure and Economic Growth in US Metropolitan Areas," Working Paper 8564, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    7. Bosker, Maarten & Brakman, Steven & Garretsen, Harry & Schramm, Marc, 2008. "A century of shocks: The evolution of the German city size distribution 1925-1999," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 330-347, July.
    8. Yuping Deng & Helian Xu, 2015. "International Direct Investment and Transboundary Pollution: An Empirical Analysis of Complex Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-25, April.
    9. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    10. Edward L. Glaeser, 1998. "Are Cities Dying?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 139-160, Spring.
    11. Albouy, David & Behrens, Kristian & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric & Seegert, Nathan, 2019. "The optimal distribution of population across cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 102-113.
    12. Sen, Hu & Chunxia, Yang & Xueshuai, Zhu & Zhilai, Zheng & Ya, Cao, 2015. "Distributions of region size and GDP and their relation," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 430(C), pages 46-56.
    13. Anelí Bongers, 2020. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve and the Energy Mix: A Structural Estimation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, May.
    14. Elkhan Richard Sadik-Zada & Wilhelm Loewenstein, 2020. "Drivers of CO 2 -Emissions in Fossil Fuel Abundant Settings: (Pooled) Mean Group and Nonparametric Panel Analyses," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-24, August.
    15. J. Vernon Henderson, 2001. "Marshall's Scale Economies," Working Papers 2001-46, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    16. García, Jorge H. & Garmestani, Ahjond S. & Karunanithi, Arunprakash T., 2011. "Threshold transitions in a regional urban system," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 152-159, April.
    17. Gabaix, Xavier & Ioannides, Yannis M., 2004. "The evolution of city size distributions," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 53, pages 2341-2378, Elsevier.
    18. Zora Živanović & Branka Tošić & Teodora Nikolić & Dragica Gatarić, 2019. "Urban System in Serbia—The Factor in the Planning of Balanced Regional Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-19, August.
    19. Hanson, Gordon H., 1998. "Regional adjustment to trade liberalization," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 419-444, July.
    20. Liange Zhao & Jianfeng Zou & Zhijian Zhang, 2020. "Does China’s Municipal Solid Waste Source Separation Program Work? Evidence from the Spatial-Two-Stage-Least Squares Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, February.
    21. Yannis M. Ioannides & Henry G. Overman, 2004. "Spatial evolution of the US urban system," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 131-156, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:6:p:554-:d:72017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.