Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, CASS, Beijing, China.
School of Geography Science and Geomatics Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
PLoS One. 2022 Sep 12;17(9):e0272267. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272267. eCollection 2022.
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.
行政区划是推动中国城市化进程和经济增长的重要资源。作为城市空间扩张的重要方式，撤县设区（RCD）对经济增长的影响仍有待实证检验。本文利用 1998-2016 年县级面板数据和差分方法对此问题进行了研究。结果表明，在研究期间，RCD 显著促进了中国城市的经济增长。将大城市和特大城市的县（县级市）撤县设区的效果明显好于中小城市。在城市常住人口较少的中小城市，RCD 对经济发展有明显的负面影响。东部和中部地区的县（县级市）改革效果更为显著，而西部地区和东北地区的政策效果不显著。当市辖区的发展强度在 15%-20%之间时，RCD 的效果较好，市辖区的行政区划调整存在一定的最优窗口期限。
