Impact of Knowledge Spillover on Regional Club Convergence in China

Abstract

Knowledge spillover theory introduces specialized knowledge and human capital accumulation into the production function, breaks through the limitations of traditional economic theory, and illustrates the continuous and permanent source and power of economic growth. This article attempts to study the “club phenomenon” of the uneven development of China’s regional economy from the perspective of knowledge spillover, using the Spatial Dubin Model (SDM) to process China’s provincial data from 1991 to 2015. Studies have shown that knowledge spillovers are conducive to narrowing the gap in the level of economic development between the eastern and central regions of China, but the gap in the level of economic development between the two regions is gradually widening, and there is a “club phenomenon”. Therefore, developing regional cooperation models and focusing on cultivating talents for innovation can improve China’s uneven regional economic development to a certain extent.