Evolving a core-periphery pattern of manufacturing industries across Chinese provinces

Abstract

This paper, concerning uneven development in China, empirically analyzes the core-periphery gradient of manufacturing industries across provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities), and assesses the extent to which these provinces have changed in recent years. Since China's reform and opening-up, the spatial structure of the economy has presented a significant core-periphery pattern, the core evidently skewing towards east-coastal areas. With the deepening of market reforms and expansion of globalization, industrial location is gradually in line with the development advantages of provinces. The core provinces specialize in those industries characterized by strong forward and backward linkages, as well as a high consumption ratio, a high degree of increasing returns to scale, and labor or human-capital intensity. However, it is the opposite with regard to peripheral provinces, in addition, energy intensive industries are gradually concentrating in these areas. To a certain degree, the comparative advantage theory and new economic geography identify the underlying forces that determine the spatial distribution of manufacturing industries in China. This paper indicates that the industrialization of regions along different gradients becomes unsynchronized will be a long-term trend. Within a certain period, regions are bound to develop industrial sectors in line with their respective characteristics and development stage. A core-periphery pattern of industries also indicates that industrial development differentials across regions arise because of not only the uneven distribution of industries but also the inconsistent evolving trends of industrial structure for each province.

Measuring Peripherality as a Proxy for Autonomous Community Coping Capacity: A Case Study from Bua Province, Fiji Islands, for Improving Climate Change Adaptation

“…Among rural communities in developing countries, research suggests that autonomous community coping with environmental shocks (from rapid-onset disasters to slow-onset manifestations of climate change) varies with peripherality. Defined as a measure of a community's engagement with global agendas and coarsely proxied by distance from national developmental cores (Maru et al 2014; Nunn and Kumar 2018), peripherality is a measure that is commonly used in economic geography at a range of scales from the local to national-regional to global (e.g., Copus et al 2008;Mao et al 2014;Sofer 2015;Wallerstein 2004). The principal utility of such models has been the ready characterization of uneven development, whether this refers to such factors as income and investment potential, education and opportunity, or global networking through communications.…”

Analyzing Agricultural Agglomeration in China

“…In particular, the industrial concentration in manufacturing and service sectors has attracted the interests of scholars for nearly 30 years [1][2][3][4]. In addition, with the use of large specialized equipment in agriculture, the geographic agglomeration and specialized production in agriculture recently demonstrated their competitiveness [5].…”

“…Current research on agglomeration mainly focused on the manufacturing and service sectors [1][2][3][4]. Marshall (1890) explained the reason for the concentration of specialized industries in particular localities, and described three original and classic contributors: technology spillovers, a constant market for skilled workers, and sharing of infrastructure and materials with subsidiary industries [7].…”

Sustainable Development in Sparsely Populated Territories: Case of the Russian Arctic and Far East

“…The key principles and forces behind the regional polarization of social and economic development are discussed within the framework of spatial-economic theories of placement and regional development. Peripheral territories are resource providers [5], participants in inter-regional exchange [18], center-dependent territories [19,20], and locations for less profitable companies [21] and energy intensive industries (if abundant with energy resources) [22], according to this literature. In whatever way they may indicate disadvantages and possibilities for SPTs, these theories do not answer the fundamental question: what does sustainable development in such territories entail?…”