Industrial agglomeration and difference of regional productivity

Abstract

Locally increasing returns is the source of industrial agglomeration, and it improves regional labour productivity and drives up regional inequality. Using data of 261 cities in 2004 in China, I find that the estimated elasticity of (average) labor productivity with respect to employment density is about 8.8%, compared with 5% in the USA and 4.5% in the EU. Further, I find that the difference of agglomeration effects among provinces exists two cases: insignificant difference and significant difference. However, under the polarization of industrial location, both two cases enlarge the inequality of labor productivity among provinces, and drive up the divergence of regional income.

摘要

非农产业规模报酬递增地方化是产业集聚的源泉, 并提高了该区域劳动生产率, 进而对地区差距产生了持久的影响。 中国2004年261个地级城市和副省级城市的数据显示大陆地区非农产业劳动生产率对非农就业密度的弹性系数为8.8%左右, 高于现阶段欧美国家5%左右的水平。 同时这一集聚效应在省际之间有存在差异和没有差异两种情况, 在非农产业分布极不平衡的情况下, 这都扩大了劳动生产率在各省之间的差异, 将地区差距维持在较高的水平上。