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Agglomeration Economies in China: Locations and Effects

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Abstract

The nature and location of urbanization economies and their effects on productivity per worker in China are examined. Unlike previous studies, more accurate resident-based measures of urban scale from the 2010 census are used. The size of urbanization economies is similar to those in other countries and they occur only in bigger cities and not in smaller towns, and operate only through tertiary sector activity. Efforts by government to disperse urbanization, through land use and migration restrictions and by stimulating construction and manufacturing in China’s counties, are unlikely to create beneficial agglomeration effects.

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  • Chao Li & John Gibson, 2014. "Agglomeration Economies in China: Locations and Effects," Working Papers in Economics 14/02, University of Waikato.
    • Handle: RePEc:wai:econwp:14/02
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    File URL: https://repec.its.waikato.ac.nz/wai/econwp/1402.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. John Gibson & Chao Li & Geua Boe-Gibson, 2014. "Economic Growth and Expansion of China’s Urban Land Area: Evidence from Administrative Data and Night Lights, 1993–2012," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Li, Chao & Gibson, John, 2015. "City scale and productivity in China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 86-90.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    agglomeration; cities; population; productivity; urbanization; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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