Territorial Competition in China and the West

Abstract

Territorial economic competition first emerged in North America, appeared in Europe during the 1980s, and recently in many LDC/transition economies chasing FDI. In China the process is key to economic development, but operates without the electoral competition and private land markets which are central in the West. We relate developments in each to a general model whereby local circumstances shape selective coalitions of economic agents, and hence policy mixes, differing in their wastefulness and redistributive effects. In the Chinese case, strong competition (involving much waste) is primarily driven by ambitious local officials seeking promotion by pursuing centrally determined growth targets

Scale, state and the city: Urban transformation in post-reform China

“…The central-local relations involve the division and sharing of power on policy matters, personnel matters and fiscal matters (Chien & Gordon, 2006). The power related to fiscal matters is very important.…”

Emerging Chinese Cities: Implications for Global Urban Studies

“…Asymmetric political and fiscal concentration and decentralization of economic decision making (Chien and Gordon 2008) are two major features. The central government uses economic performance indicators (especially gross domestic product [GDP] growth rate) to measure and promote local government officials.…”

Revealed competition for greenfield investments between European regions

“…In particular, we focus on the measurement of competition for greenfield investments (new investments as well as expansions) between NUTS-2 regions in the European Economic Area (EEA) 4 and in Switzerland. European integration, which has facilitated the free movement of capital, goods, and workers and has gradually removed economic, social, and cultural differences between countries, has blurred national boundaries, resulting in the growth of territorial competition (e.g., Cheshire and Gordon, 1995;Gordon, 1999;Budd, 1998;Begg, 1999;Cheshire, 1999;Lever, 1999;Markusen and Nesse, 2007;Chien and Gordon, 2008). Today, MNCs increasingly perceive Europe as a relatively integrated territory rather than a collection of independent countries.…”