IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rfa/aefjnl/v4y2017i3p30-46.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatial Dynamics of Chinese Manufacturing Industries: Comparative Advantage versus New Economic Geography

Author

Listed:
  • Fei Wang
  • Qiliang Mao

Abstract

This paper analyzes the evolving spatial distribution of manufacturing industries in China. Besides, we explore the substantial determinants by adopting a spatial panel model. The spatial pattern of Chinese manufacturing industries has changed significantly, which is featured by obvious trend of labor intensive industries and some of capital and tech intensive ones in Eastern China spread to Central and Western China. Generally, spatial dynamics of industries present an order to a certain degree. Central China has been the main region where industries spread to, and relative large range of sectors is involved. We test the determinants in terms of comparative advantage and new economic geography. It turns out that the factors driving industry spatial dynamics is not the enlarging regional cost differences of production factors but endogenous agglomeration externalities. Specifically, more and more fierce competition of local firms in same sector has become one of the principal reasons cause spatial relocation. More congestion happens in labor intensive industries compared to technology intensive industries and capital intensive industries. The findings of this study indicate that comparative advantage theory and new economic geography will be suitable in different spatial scape of economic issues. Geographic evolution of industries in one country is less determined by changing regional comparative advantage differences but the endogenous effect of varying agglomeration externalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Fei Wang & Qiliang Mao, 2017. "Spatial Dynamics of Chinese Manufacturing Industries: Comparative Advantage versus New Economic Geography," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 4(3), pages 30-46, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:rfa:aefjnl:v:4:y:2017:i:3:p:30-46
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/aef/article/view/2275/2396
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/aef/article/view/2275
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald R. Davis & David E. Weinstein, 1996. "Does Economic Geography Matter for International Specialization?," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1773, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    2. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Thierry Mayer & Jacques-François Thisse, 2008. "Economic Geography: The Integration of Regions and Nations," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00311000, HAL.
    3. Davis, Donald R. & Weinstein, David E., 1999. "Economic geography and regional production structure: An empirical investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 379-407, February.
    4. J. Vernon Henderson, 2010. "Cities And Development," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 515-540, February.
    5. Wen, Mei, 2004. "Relocation and agglomeration of Chinese industry," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 329-347, February.
    6. Glaeser, Edward L & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(6), pages 1126-1152, December.
      • Edward L. Glaeser & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1991. "Growth in Cities," NBER Working Papers 3787, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
      • Glaeser, Edward Ludwig & Kallal, Hedi D. & Scheinkman, Jose A. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1992. "Growth in Cities," Scholarly Articles 3451309, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    7. Ciccone, Antonio & Hall, Robert E, 1996. "Productivity and the Density of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 54-70, March.
    8. Henderson, Vernon & Kuncoro, Ari & Turner, Matt, 1995. "Industrial Development in Cities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(5), pages 1067-1090, October.
    9. Ying Ge, 2006. "Regional Inequality, Industry Agglomeration and Foreign Trade: The Case of China," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-105, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    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. Irena Jindrichovska & Dana Kubickova, 2016. "Perception of Accountants and Accounting Profession in two Countries: Different Terms of Economy and Culture," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(3), pages 60-79.
    2. Xubei Luo & Nong Zhu, 2022. "Migration, Agglomeration and Attractiveness of Cities in China," Working Papers hal-03606056, HAL.

    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. H. Hanson, Gordon, 2005. "Market potential, increasing returns and geographic concentration," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 1-24, September.
    2. Martin, Philippe & Mayer, Thierry & Mayneris, Florian, 2011. "Spatial concentration and plant-level productivity in France," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 182-195, March.
    3. Wei Tang & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, 2017. "Do city–county mergers in China promote local economic development?," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 25(3), pages 439-469, July.
    4. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Lafourcade, Miren & Thisse, Jacques-François & Toutain, Jean-Claude, 2011. "The rise and fall of spatial inequalities in France: A long-run perspective," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 243-271, April.
    5. Henry Overman & Stephen Redding & Anthony J. Venables, 2001. "The Economic Geography of Trade, Production, and Income: A Survey of Empirics," CEP Discussion Papers dp0508, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Mion, Giordano, 2004. "Spatial externalities and empirical analysis: the case of Italy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 97-118, July.
    7. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Gobillon, Laurent, 2015. "The Empirics of Agglomeration Economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 247-348, Elsevier.
    8. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Overman, Henry G., 2004. "The spatial distribution of economic activities in the European Union," 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 64, pages 2845-2909, Elsevier.
    9. Dinlersoz, Emin M., 2004. "Cities and the organization of manufacturing," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 71-100, January.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/10145 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Stef Proost & Jacques-François Thisse, 2019. "What Can Be Learned from Spatial Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 57(3), pages 575-643, September.
    12. Kristian Behrens & Frédéric Robert‐Nicoud, 2009. "Krugman's Papers in Regional Science: The 100 dollar bill on the sidewalk is gone and the 2008 Nobel Prize well‐deserved," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(2), pages 467-489, June.
    13. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1kv8mtgl748r0ahh12air9erdc is not listed on IDEAS
    14. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8mc6ihim is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Krieger-Boden, Christiane, 2000. "Globalization, integration and regional specialization," Kiel Working Papers 1009, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    16. Puga, Diego, 2008. "Agglomeration and cross-border infrastructure," EIB Papers 9/2008, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    17. Gordon H. Hanson, 2000. "Scale Economies and the Geographic Concentration of Industry," NBER Working Papers 8013, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Giulio Cainelli & Carlo Ciccarelli & Roberto Ganau, 2021. "Administrative reforms, urban hierarchy, and local population growth. Lessons from Italian unification," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2109, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Feb 2021.
    19. Teresa Garcia-Milà & Therese J. McGuire, 2001. "Tax incentives and the city," Economics Working Papers 631, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Dec 2001.
    20. Berliant, Marcus & Reed III, Robert R. & Wang, Ping, 2006. "Knowledge exchange, matching, and agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 69-95, July.
    21. Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt & Stephen J. Redding & Daniel M. Sturm & Nikolaus Wolf, 2015. "The Economics of Density: Evidence From the Berlin Wall," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2127-2189, November.
    22. Edward L. Glaeser, 1998. "Are Cities Dying?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 139-160, Spring.
    23. Jordan Rappaport & Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2001. "The U.S. as a coastal nation," Research Working Paper RWP 01-11, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    spatial dynamics; new economic geography; comparative advantage; manufacturing industries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:rfa:aefjnl:v:4:y:2017:i:3:p:30-46. 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: Redfame publishing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    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.