What determines the economic resilience of Chinese cities amid pandemic crisis: An economic operating state perspective

Abstract

This paper first further clarifies economic operating state resilience from the concept of regional economic resilience and uses it to explore what factors influence the resilience during the pandemic. We find that the impact of different factors on regional economic resilience and economic operating state resilience is not entirely consistent in the early stages of the pandemic. The results reveal that industry specialization and unrelated diversity have positive effects at different stages, with opposite roles for human capital. High shares of secondary and tertiary industries can impair resilience in the recovery phase. However, the roles of government and diversity are not consistent across stages. Going beyond the determinants of regional economic resilience in previous economic cycles of liquidity crises, this article highlights the role of the public governance and industrial structure at different stages of the pandemic shock and argues that enhancing regional economic resilience in the reshaping of the ‘face-to-face’ pattern of economic activity is a great challenge in the post-pandemic era. This paper provides new insights for policymakers and researchers in responding to major public health events, understanding resilience process and promoting sustainable development in the post-pandemic era.