IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i6p3510-d772827.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Comparative Advantage of Cities and Innovation Value Chain: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Zhao

    (School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Chao Zhu

    (School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

  • Yaoyao Zhu

    (School of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

Abstract

Cities are different in industrial structure; some are specialized while others are diversified. Based on the theory of the innovation value chain, this paper used the innovation data of industrial enterprises from 2008 to 2014 in China to test the comparative advantage of cities in innovation. Our empirical results proved that diversified cities are more suitable for the R&D process of innovation through the labor matching effect and the knowledge spillover effect, while specialized cities are more suitable for the commercialization process through cost-saving effect. Enterprises could choose suitable locations due to their positions in the innovation value chain to achieve sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Zhao & Chao Zhu & Yaoyao Zhu, 2022. "The Comparative Advantage of Cities and Innovation Value Chain: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:6:p:3510-:d:772827
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/6/3510/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/6/3510/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2001. "Nursery Cities: Urban Diversity, Process Innovation, and the Life Cycle of Products," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1454-1477, December.
    2. Davis, Donald R. & Dingel, Jonathan I., 2020. "The comparative advantage of cities," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    3. Andini, Monica & de Blasio, Guido & Duranton, Gilles & Strange, William C., 2013. "Marshallian labour market pooling: Evidence from Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 1008-1022.
    4. Marcus Berliant & Masahisa Fujita, 2008. "Knowledge Creation As A Square Dance On The Hilbert Cube," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1251-1295, November.
    5. Frank Van Oort, 2002. "Innovation and agglomeration economies in the Netherlands," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 93(3), pages 344-360, August.
    6. F. M. Scherer, 1986. "Innovation and Growth: Schumpeterian Perspectives," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262691027, April.
    7. Koen Frenken & Frank Van Oort & Thijs Verburg, 2007. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Regional Economic Growth," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 685-697.
    8. 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.
    9. Davis, James C. & Henderson, J. Vernon, 2008. "The agglomeration of headquarters," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 445-460, September.
    10. Feldman, Maryann P. & Audretsch, David B., 1999. "Innovation in cities:: Science-based diversity, specialization and localized competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 409-429, February.
    11. Fei Fan & Shangze Dai & Keke Zhang & Haiqian Ke, 2021. "Innovation agglomeration and urban hierarchy: evidence from Chinese cities," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(54), pages 6300-6318, November.
    12. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Duranton, Gilles & Gobillon, Laurent, 2008. "Spatial wage disparities: Sorting matters!," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 723-742, March.
    13. Henri L.F. Groot & Jacques Poot & Martijn J. Smit, 2016. "Which Agglomeration Externalities Matter Most And Why?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 756-782, September.
    14. Corinne Autant-Bernard, 2006. "Where Do Firms Choose to Locate Their R&D? A Spatial Conditional Logit Analysis on French Data," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(9), pages 1187-1208, May.
    15. Thomas Kemeny & Michael Storper, 2015. "Is Specialization Good for Regional Economic Development?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(6), pages 1003-1018, June.
    16. Feldman, Maryann P. & Kogler, Dieter F., 2010. "Stylized Facts in the Geography of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 381-410, Elsevier.
    17. Roland Andersson & John M. Quigley & Mats Wilhelmsson, 2005. "Agglomeration and the spatial distribution of creativity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(3), pages 445-464, August.
    18. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    19. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2000. "Diversity and Specialisation in Cities: Why, Where and When Does it Matter?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(3), pages 533-555, March.
    20. Filippetti, Andrea & Guy, Frederick, 2020. "Labor market regulation, the diversity of knowledge and skill, and national innovation performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    21. Markus Grillitsch & Bjørn Asheim & Michaela Trippl, 2018. "Unrelated knowledge combinations: the unexplored potential for regional industrial path development," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 11(2), pages 257-274.
    22. Megha Mukim, 2012. "Does Agglomeration Boost Innovation? An Econometric Evaluation," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 357-380, September.
    23. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_027 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Chih-Hai Yang & Chia-Hui Huang, 2018. "Agglomeration, ownership, and R&D activity: firm-level evidence from China’s electronics industry," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1673-1696, June.
    25. Fujita, Masahisa, 2007. "Towards the new economic geography in the brain power society," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 482-490, July.
    26. Andersson, Martin & Larsson, Johan P & Wernberg, Joakim, 2019. "The economic microgeography of diversity and specialization externalities – firm-level evidence from Swedish cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1385-1398.
    27. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," 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 349-404, Elsevier.
    28. ZHANG, Hongyong, 2015. "How does agglomeration promote the product innovation of Chinese firms?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 105-120.
    29. Nicoló Barbieri & François Perruchas & Davide Consoli, 2020. "Specialization, Diversification, and Environmental Technology Life Cycle," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 96(2), pages 161-186, March.
    30. Yuandi Wang & Lutao Ning & Jian Li & Martha Prevezer, 2016. "Foreign Direct Investment Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation in Chinese Regions: The Role of Regional Industrial Specialization and Diversity," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(5), pages 805-822, May.
    31. repec:zbw:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201512111472 is not listed on IDEAS
    32. Lu-Hui Gao & Guo-Qing Wang & Jing Zhang & Muhammad Javaid, 2021. "Industrial Agglomeration Analysis Based on Spatial Durbin Model: Evidence from Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Economic Circle in China," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2021, pages 1-10, July.
    33. Audretsch, David B. & Feldman, Maryann P., 2004. "Knowledge spillovers and the geography of innovation," 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 61, pages 2713-2739, Elsevier.
    34. 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.
    35. Ning, Lutao & Wang, Fan & Li, Jian, 2016. "Urban innovation, regional externalities of foreign direct investment and industrial agglomeration: Evidence from Chinese cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 830-843.
    36. Filip De Beule & Ilke Van Beveren, 2012. "Does Firm Agglomeration Drive Product Innovation And Renewal? An Application For Belgium," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 103(4), pages 457-472, September.
    37. Roper, Stephen & Du, Jun & Love, James H., 2008. "Modelling the innovation value chain," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6-7), pages 961-977, July.
    38. Anthony J. Venables, 2011. "Productivity in cities: self-selection and sorting," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 241-251, March.
    39. Chen, Xiafei & Liu, Zhiying & Zhu, Qingyuan, 2018. "Performance evaluation of China's high-tech innovation process: Analysis based on the innovation value chain," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 74, pages 42-53.
    40. Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), 2015. "Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 5, number 5.
    41. Ben Letaifa, Soumaya & Rabeau, Yves, 2013. "Too close to collaborate? How geographic proximity could impede entrepreneurship and innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 2071-2078.
    42. Jonas Grafström, 2018. "International knowledge spillovers in the wind power industry: evidence from the European Union," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 205-224, April.
    43. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2004. "Evidence on the nature and sources of agglomeration economies," 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 49, pages 2119-2171, Elsevier.
    44. Lu Zhang & Renyan Mu & Shuhua Hu & Quan Zhang & Song Wang, 2021. "Impacts of Manufacturing Specialized and Diversified Agglomeration on the Eco-Innovation Efficiency—A Nonlinear Test from Dynamic Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-27, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    2. Annekatrin Niebuhr & Jan Cornelius Peters & Alex Schmidke, 2020. "Spatial sorting of innovative firms and heterogeneous effects of agglomeration on innovation in Germany," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 1343-1375, October.
    3. Behrens, Kristian & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric, 2015. "Agglomeration Theory with Heterogeneous Agents," 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 171-245, Elsevier.
    4. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," 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 349-404, Elsevier.
    5. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissensintensive Unternehmensdienste, Wissens-Spillovers und regionales Wachstum. Teilprojekt 1: Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung – Welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert das Wach," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58342, April.
    6. 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.
    7. Pindado, Emilio & Sánchez, Mercedes & García Martínez, Marian, 2023. "Entrepreneurial innovativeness: When too little or too much agglomeration hurts," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    8. Aurélie LALANNE & Guillaume POUYANNE, 2012. "Ten years of metropolization in economics: a bibliometric approach (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2012-11, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    9. Delgado, Mercedes & Porter, Michael E. & Stern, Scott, 2014. "Clusters, convergence, and economic performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(10), pages 1785-1799.
    10. Hamidi, Shima & Zandiatashbar, Ahoura & Bonakdar, Ahmad, 2019. "The relationship between regional compactness and regional innovation capacity (RIC): Empirical evidence from a national study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 394-402.
    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. Tavassoli, Sam & Obschonka, Martin & Audretsch, David B., 2021. "Entrepreneurship in Cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    13. Andersson, Martin & Larsson, Johan P. & Wernberg, Joakim, 2017. "The Economic Microgeography of Diversity and Specialization," Working Paper Series 1167, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    14. Thomas Ejdemo & Daniel Örtqvist, 2021. "Exploring a leading and lagging regions dichotomy: does entrepreneurship and diversity explain it?," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, December.
    15. Andersson, Martin & Larsson, Johan P & Wernberg, Joakim, 2019. "The economic microgeography of diversity and specialization externalities – firm-level evidence from Swedish cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1385-1398.
    16. Katiuscia Lavoratori & Davide Castellani, 2021. "Too close for comfort? Microgeography of agglomeration economies in the United Kingdom," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 1002-1028, November.
    17. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," 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 349-404, Elsevier.
    18. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2015_027 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Carlos Carreira & Luís Lopes, 2016. "Collecting new pieces to the regional knowledge spillovers puzzle: high-tech versus low-tech industries," GEMF Working Papers 2016-06, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    20. Carl Gaigné & Jacques-François Thisse, 2013. "New Economic Geography and the City," Working Papers SMART 13-02, INRAE UMR SMART.
    21. Florian Noseleit, 2020. "The Role of Entry and Market Selection for the Dynamics of Regional Diversity and Specialization," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(1), pages 76-94, July.

    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:14:y:2022:i:6:p:3510-:d:772827. 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.