Resumen de Industrial agglomeration, public services and city size: Evidence from 286 cities in China
Lin Zhang, Xiaoxia He, Zhenli Jia
Industrial agglomeration and public services play a vital role in urban expansion. However, from a spatial perspective, the interaction between industrial agglomeration, public services and urban scale is unclear. Based on spatial autocorrelation model and spatial econometric model, this study analyses the effects of industrial agglomeration and public services on urban scale using data from 286 Chinese cities during 2014–2018. The results are as follows: (1) Local industrial agglomeration can attract the labour force and has a negative spatial spillover effect on surrounding cities; (2) public services contribute to the expansion of local cities’ scale and have a positive spatial spillover effect; (3) industrial agglomeration and public services play a coordinated and complementary role in expanding the size of cities This study has the following policy implications: (i) Local governments should combine their resources to develop industries and coordinate industrial development in cities; and (ii) governments should increase expenditures on public services and optimize public services by utilizing social capital. These policy implications can help developing countries expand the scale of cities and promote urbanization.
