IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0272267.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic effects of conversion from county (or county-level city) to municipal district in China

Author

Listed:
  • Biao Zhao
  • Xu Xi

Abstract

Administrative division is an important resource to promote the urbanization process and economic growth in China. As an important way of urban spatial expansion, the effect of the removal of counties (county-level cities) into municipal districts(RCD) on economic growth remains to be empirically tested. In this paper, the panel data at the county level from 1998 to 2016 and the differential method were selected to study this problem. The results show that, during the study period, the RCD significantly promoted the economic growth of Chinese cities. The effect of removing counties (county-level cities) from large cities and megacities to set up districts is obviously better than that of small and medium-sized cities. In small and medium-sized cities with small urban permanent population, the RCD has obvious negative impact on economic development. The effect of county (county-level city) reform in eastern and central regions is more significant, while the effect of policy in western and northeast regions is not significant. When the development intensity of the municipal district is between 15%-20%, the effect of the RCD is relatively good, and the administrative division adjustment of the municipal district has a certain optimal window period.

Suggested Citation

  • Biao Zhao & Xu Xi, 2022. "Economic effects of conversion from county (or county-level city) to municipal district in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(9), pages 1-16, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0272267
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272267
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272267
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272267&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0272267?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:pmomgt:v:24:y:2004:i:2:p:113-120 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Michael Chisholm, 2004. "Reorganizing Two-Tier Local Government for Regional Assemblies," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 113-120, April.
    3. Roger Keil, 2000. "Governance Restructuring in Los Angeles and Toronto: Amalgamation or Secession?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 758-781, December.
    4. Chun-Chung Au & J. Vernon Henderson, 2006. "Are Chinese Cities Too Small?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(3), pages 549-576.
    5. Xueyu Mi & Shengyou Wang & Chunfu Shao & Peng Zhang & Mingming Chen, 2021. "Resident travel mode prediction model in Beijing metropolitan area," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-22, November.
    6. Henderson, Vernon, 2003. "The Urbanization Process and Economic Growth: The So-What Question," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 47-71, 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. Frederick van der Ploeg & Steven Poelhekke, 2008. "Globalization and the rise of mega-cities in the developing world," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(3), pages 477-501.
    2. J. Vernon Henderson & Adam Storeygard & David N. Weil, 2012. "Measuring Economic Growth from Outer Space," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(2), pages 994-1028, April.
    3. He, Ming & Chen, Yang & van Marrewijk, Charles, 2021. "The effects of urban transformation on productivity spillovers in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 473-488.
    4. Sabyasachi Tripathi, 2013. "Do Large Agglomerations Lead To Economic Growth? Evidence From Urban India," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 176-200, November.
    5. Gilles Duranton, 2007. "From cities to productivity and growth in developing countries," Working Papers tecipa-306, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    6. Chen, Ying & Henderson, J. Vernon & Cai, Wei, 2017. "Political favoritism in China’s capital markets and its effect on city sizes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 69-87.
    7. 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.
    8. Daxuan Zhao & Tien Foo Sing, 2017. "Air pollution, economic spillovers, and urban growth in China," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 58(2), pages 321-340, March.
    9. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Frick, Susanne, 2017. "Big or small cities? On city size and economic growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 12324, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Le Chen & Leshui Yu & Jiangbin Yin & Meijun Xi, 2023. "Impact of Population Density on Spatial Differences in the Economic Growth of Urban Agglomerations: The Case of Guanzhong Plain Urban Agglomeration, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-18, October.
    11. Wan, Guanghua & Luo, Zhi & Zhang, Xun, 2017. "Urbanizing with Equity Consideration," ADBI Working Papers 642, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    12. Gong, Xiaodong & Gao, Jiti & Liang, Xuan, 2019. "Inter-City Spillover and Intra-City Agglomeration Effects among Local Labour Markets in China," IZA Discussion Papers 12329, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. J. Vernon Henderson, 2010. "Cities And Development," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 515-540, February.
    14. Jie Shen & Chunlai Chen & Mengyu Yang & Keyun Zhang, 2019. "City Size, Population Concentration and Productivity: Evidence from China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 27(1), pages 110-131, January.
    15. Henderson, J. Vernon & Su, Dongling & Zhang, Qinghua & Zheng, Siqi, 2022. "Political manipulation of urban land markets: Evidence from China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    16. Leonid V Azarnert, 2023. "Population sorting and human capital accumulation," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(3), pages 780-801.
    17. Kyung-Min Nam, 2017. "Is spatial distribution of China’s population excessively unequal? A cross-country comparison," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 59(2), pages 453-474, September.
    18. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Sylvie Démurger & Shi Li, 2013. "Urbanisation and Migration Externalities in China," Working Papers 1303, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    19. Philippe Martin & Thierry Mayer & Florian Mayneris, 2008. "Spatial Concentration and Firm-Level Productivity in France," Sciences Po publications 6858, Sciences Po.
    20. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci & Stefano Usai, 2013. "Productivity Growth In The Old And New Europe: The Role Of Agglomeration Externalities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 418-442, August.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0272267. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.