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What Matters for Regional Industrial Dynamics in China?

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Evolutionary Economic Geography in China

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Abstract

Recent empirical research in EEG tends to focus excessively on technological relatedness across regional industries, combinatorial knowledge dynamics, and branching processes as key explanatory factors for regional industrial dynamics (Boschma and Frenken 2011; Neffke et al. 2011). Relatedness, it is argued, not only pushes forward the growth of existing industries through agglomeration externalities derived from related variety but is also responsible for the formation of new growth paths (Boschma and Capone 2015a; Boschma et al. 2013; Delgado et al. 2016; Neffke et al. 2011). New growth paths do not emerge from scratch but evolve out of preexisting regional industrial structures, because the set of competences and assets that a region possesses determine the new paths and new industries it can develop (Boschma et al. 2012; Hidalgo et al. 2007; Neffke et al. 2011). If a region already has most of the capabilities that a certain new industry requires, it will be easy for it to diversify into that new industry. If not, the barriers to entry could be too high for this region to overcome (Boschma et al. 2013). In short, regions are anticipated to branch into technologically related industries in path-dependent related diversification processes. Where new industries emerge is strongly contingent on (but not predetermined by) the preexisting regional industrial structure.

Modified article originally published in [He, C., S. Zhu and X. Yang (2017) What Matters for Regional Industrial Dynamics in a Transitional Economy?, Area Development and Policy, 2 (1), pp. 71–90.]. Published with kind permission of © [Taylor & Francis, 2018]. All Rights Reserved.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Due to space limitation, estimation results for these robustness checks are not reported here but available on request.

  2. 2.

    The Eastern (Coastal) Region includes Liaoning, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, and Guangxi; Central Region includes Heilongjiang, Jilin, Shanxi, Neimenggu, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, and Jiangxi; and Western Region includes Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Xizang, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Canfei He & Shengjun Zhu

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  1. Canfei He
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  2. Shengjun Zhu
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He, C., Zhu, S. (2019). What Matters for Regional Industrial Dynamics in China?. In: Evolutionary Economic Geography in China. Economic Geography. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3447-4_4

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