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2011•Munich Personal RePEc Archive (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)Open access

Regional Specialization: A Measure Method and Trends in China

Lu Zheng, A.Tony Flegg, Deng Xx

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Abstract

This paper elaborates on a method of measuring regional specialization and examines the trend of regional specialization in China, 1987 - 2007. It constructs a simple coefficient incorporating the effect of regional industrial scale, based on location quotients, and then measures the regional specialization of China using official statistical data. The results indicate a remarkable increase in China’s overall regional specialization during this time, as well as obvious regional and industrial differences, i.e., that the regional specialization of eastern coastal China is relatively less than that of the inland. Findings further demonstrate that special-resource-dependent industries are concentrated in regions with resource endowment, whereas industries with strong technical barriers are mainly located in regions with strong research and innovation ability.

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What this paper is about

This paper elaborates on a method of measuring regional specialization and examines the trend of regional specialization in China, 1987 - 2007. It constructs a simple coefficient incorporating the effect of regional industrial scale, based on location quotients, and then measures the regional specialization of China using official statistical data. The results indicate a remarkable increase in China’s overall regional specialization during this time, as well as obvious regional and industrial differences, i.e., that the regional specialization of eastern coastal China is relatively less than that of the inland. Findings further demonstrate that special-resource-dependent industries are concentrated in regions with resource endowment, whereas industries with strong technical barriers are mainly located in regions with strong research and innovation ability.

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Available abstract

This paper elaborates on a method of measuring regional specialization and examines the trend of regional specialization in China, 1987 - 2007. It constructs a simple coefficient incorporating the effect of regional industrial scale, based on location quotients, and then measures the regional specialization of China using official statistical data. The results indicate a remarkable increase in China’s overall regional specialization during this time, as well as obvious regional and industrial differences, i.e., that the regional specialization of eastern coastal China is relatively less than that of the inland. Findings further demonstrate that special-resource-dependent industries are concentrated in regions with resource endowment, whereas industries with strong technical barriers are mainly located in regions with strong research and innovation ability.

Key concepts: China, Endowment, Resource (disambiguation), Economic geography, Scale (ratio), Shift-share analysis, Economic base analysis, Geography

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