Study on Overall Features and Spatial Evolution of County Economy——A Case of Zhejiang Province

Differences of county economy and its spatial connection are newly research fields on spatial economics. This article makes an analysis on different levels of county economy as well as spatial evolution in Zhejiang province by adopting the method of exploratory spatial data analysis. The results are showed as follows: The county economy in Zhejiang Province features a stable development on the whole during 2001-2011 in spite of some fluctuations. There are minor differences of county economy in the northeast and decreased differences in the southwest but the gap between these two regions is increased. The level of county economy presents a trend of concentration and Hangzhou with Shaoxing and Ningbo are the core areas of economic development. In addition the spatial pattern of county economic growth presents a trend of clustering where the northeast area, especially the downtown area of Hangzhou and Shaoxing county are always the hot spots in economic growth and the whole level of county economy in southwest is relatively low. The paper discusses further the main driving forces for economic spatial differences in Zhejiang Province from economic development foundation, location, policies and spatial proximity effect aspects.The corresponding policy implications are also been given.