Regional Convergence and Sustainable Development in China

Abstract

Based on the convergence theory of economic growth, this paper extends this concept to the human development index and carries out an empirical analysis of regional development in China between 1997 and 2006. Our research shows that the conditional convergence has been identified. Investment in fixed assets, government expenditure on education, health and infrastructure construction have positive effects on regional convergence of social development. Population weighted analysis of human development index provides support for weak convergence amongst provinces. Analysis of dynamics of regional distribution reveals the club convergence, which indicate two different convergence states. Central China is in the shade and lags behind, giving rise to the so-called "central downfall". To solve this problem, the "Rise of Central China" Plan is necessary to promote the connection between coastal and inland regions of China and reduce the regional development gap.

Introduction to the Special Issue on the Sustainable Asia Conference 2015

“…Thus, provinces of Eastern China converge to the rich ones, while the West China converge to the poor ones, and Central China lags behind. This highlights the significance of the "rise of Central China" plan as it can play an important role in promoting an effective link between the developed Eastern China and underdeveloped Western China and harmonizing sustainable development nationwide [6].…”

“…Li et al (2016) [10] introduced 19 evaluation indicators involving economic, environmental, and energy factors, allocated weight to each indicator using the entropy weight method, and sorted the 31 evaluation objects by using the TOPSIS method. To test the convergence theory with regard to the economic growth of different regions, Yang et al (2016) [6] utilized the β-convergence method and σ-convergence method based on the fixed effects model. The former one mainly concentrates on the difference in growth rate among countries or regions, while the latter one focuses on the distribution difference in growth rate.…”

“…As the regional differences in human development limit the potential for sustainable development, the Chinese government urgently needs to cope with the challenges of social justice, i.e., how to achieve equal opportunities and capabilities for its huge population. Based on the convergence theory of economic growth, a paper conducted an empirical test in China for the period 1997 to 2006, involving the human development index and the three major dimensions of human development (income, health, and education) [6]. The paper concludes that the rates of return on investment in education and health decline with the increase in investment.…”

Analysis of Regional Inequality from Sectoral Structure, Spatial Policy and Economic Development: A Case Study of Chongqing, China

“…Per capita GDP is widely used to compare the regional inequality [21][22][23]27,49,55,56], and this study will select per capita GDP as the indicator that can reflect the regional inequality objectively. Due to China's sector consisting of the Primary Sector, the Secondary Sector, and the Tertiary Sector, naturally, the per capita GDP of each sector is selected as the indicator to measure the each sectoral regional inequality.…”

A Study on China’s Urban Electricity Productivity Convergence with Spatial Smooth Transition Effect

“…However, it is hard to obtain stable results through σ convergence model to some extent [11]. Therefore, the productivity convergence issue is more commonly studied by β convergence model [12] and the analyzing framework is improved continuously [13][14][15][16][17][18]. The convergence of regional energy productivity or efficiency in China attracts many scholars to devote substantial attention.…”