區域經濟收斂、人力資本與空間外溢效應：台灣，1991-2001

Abstract

The present thesis is an attempt to provide additional information on the spatial aspect of convergence. Using industry, commerce and service census and population and housing census data, we investigate the effects of spatial spillovers and human capital on labor productivity growth with exploratory spatial data analysis and spatial econometric methods. The empirical results indicate 1. The non-spatial models applied to analyse β-convergence suffer from a misspecification due to omitted spatial dependence. 2. There are α-convergence and β-convergence. Regional labor productivity between townships declined from 1991 to 2001. Poor townships displayed faster economic growth rates than wealthy ones. 3. Townships with higher average levels of human capital grow faster. A 1% increase in a township concentration of college-educated employees was associated with a 0.9% increase in subsequent labor productivity growth. 4. The estimation results of spatial lag models indicate spatial spillover effects matter for regional economic growth. Regions can significantly benefit from high economic growth in neighboring regions. 5. There are regional differences in the substantive spatial dependences. The spatial spillover effect is stronger in densely populated regions than in sparsely populated regions.