Balanced Regional Development Research Articles

What Factors Can Explain the Rising Spatial Disparity in Economic Activities in China?

AbstractThis paper explores the impact of spatial externalities in shaping China's economic geography by establishing a theoretical framework that contains regional productivity, trade barriers and local amenities to capture spatial externalities between different regions over time. Combining provincial data on bilateral trade flows with observed information about economic geography during the period 1998–2013, we estimate the distribution and marginal contribution of each explanatory factor. Empirical results suggest that regional labor density and wage are positively related to exogenous productivity and amenities, and negatively related to trade barriers. Meanwhile, variation in the marginal contribution of exogenous productivity and amenities and trade barriers reflects the regional temporal–spatial features in China's recent marketization process. Therefore, the Chinese government should place more emphasis on absorbing advanced technologies and reducing inter‐regional market barriers to promote balanced regional development and improve the efficiency of China's spatial resource allocation.

중국의 지역별 도시근로자와 농민공의 임금격차 분석 : 지역균형발전 정책 관점에서

중국의 지역별 도시근로자와 농민공의 임금격차 분석 : 지역균형발전 정책 관점에서

Investigating Determinants that Affect Job and Life Dissatisfaction: The Case of Relocation

Purpose: Geographical relocation has been conducted to alleviate overcrowding and to support balanced regional development in many countries. Previous studies have seldom examined the effectiveness of relocation on job and life dissatisfaction, particularly in the public sector. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of relocation on job and life dissatisfaction. Proposed research questions include the following: i) do working conditions in the new workplace and interactivity affect job dissatisfaction? ii) do social infrastructure and social activity in the new location affect life dissatisfaction? and iii) is there a relationship between job and life dissatisfaction? Research Design, data, and methodology: The study collected data via an online survey and applied statistical analyses such as factor analysis, regression, and ANOVA. Results: The results of this study found that proposed determinants excluding mobility inefficiency and decision-making affect job and life dissatisfaction. The results also showed that there are relationships between job and life dissatisfaction. Conclusions: The results of this study provide both managerial and policy implications of relocation for the public sector. The results of this study implied that better policy should be designed to increase job and life satisfaction that also accounts for the realities of relocation.

Can Higher Education, Economic Growth and Innovation Ability Improve Each Other?

This study argues that the coupling between higher education, economic growth, and innovation ability is of great significance for regional sustainable development. Through the experience of Jiangsu Province in China, this study establishes a coupling coordination evaluation index system and applies the coupling coordination model to evaluate interactive relationships among the three. It finds that during 2007–2017, the level of coupling of 13 prefecture-level cities in Jiangsu was increasing over time, which fully verified the previous scholars’ view that the three can improve each other over a long period. However, this study finds that there are obvious differences within Jiangsu. Inadequate investment in higher education has become a crucial constraint on sustainable economic growth in northern and central Jiangsu, which are backward regions of Jiangsu. By contrast, in southern Jiangsu, which is the advanced region of Jiangsu, although the resources of higher education are abundant the growth of innovation ability cannot support sustained economic growth well. Thus, the quality of higher education should be improved to meet the needs of the innovation-based economy. Accordingly, cross-regional cooperation and balanced investment in higher education are the keys to practicing a balanced and sustained regional development. The results of this study’s coupling coordination analysis and evaluation can serve as a reference for governments in enhancing regional sustainable development.

Sustainable Development in Sparsely Populated Territories: Case of the Russian Arctic and Far East

Extreme environmental conditions, sparsely distributed human populations, and diverse local economies characterize the Russian Arctic and Far East. There is an urgent need for multidisciplinary research into how the Arctic and Far East can be developed sustainably as global changes in the environment and the economic priorities of nations accelerate and globalized societies emerge. Yet, when it comes to sustainability indicators, little consideration has been given thus far to sparsely populated and remote territories. Rather, the majority of indicators have been developed and tested while using empirical research gathered from cities and densely populated rural localities. As a result, there is no scientific technique that can be used to monitor the development of sparsely populated territories and inform the decisions of policymakers who hope to account for local specificity. This article suggests a conceptual model for linking sustainability to the unique characteristics of the sparsely populated regions of the Arctic and Far East. We provide an empirical illustration that is based on regional-level data from the sparsely populated territories of the Russian Federation. We conclude by suggesting indicators that could be best suited to promoting balanced regional development that accounts for the environment, economy, and social needs of sparsely populated territories.

Program for Regional Conflict Prevention when Using Natural Resources Authors

The extraction of natural resources in the mining regions causes environmental pollution, changes the landscape, and reduces biodiversity, and leads to conflicts between the local population and the mining enterprises. The paper aims to design a methodological tool for eliminating social tensions in the mining regions during field development and exploitation. The goal can be achieved by creating compensation projects that take into account the priorities assessed by the stakeholders: the population, the regional authorities and the mining enterprise. As the compensation projects strive to solve social and environmental problems in the mining regions, they include the direct financial compensation to the population, development of traditional enterprisers, reduction of environmental pollution, infrastructure development, etc. We focused on two logically connected tasks: 1) assessing the significance of compensation projects and funding by the regional budget and the mining enterprise; 2) determining the sequencing of the considered projects. For solving the first task, we proposed a method of the multi-criteria significance assessment of program projects from the perspective of the population, the regional authorities and the mining enterprise, based on a specific unified rating scale. This method uses a technique that cuts off options with low interest in the projects. Thus, it allows assessing the significance of the program projects, as well as calculating the shares of funding by the mining enterprise and the regional budget. For solving the second task, we applied the economic and mathematical model and the heuristic method, determining which projects should be implemented first. The experimental calculations showed that the developed compensation programs comply with the preferences of the stakeholders. The application of the developed approach can contribute to the balanced socio-economic development of the mining regions in conditions of intensive field development and exploitation.

Spatial patterns and determinant factors of population flow networks in China: Analysis on Tencent Location Big Data

Despite the rising interest in understanding the population flows across cities, few empirical studies have paid close attention to their network characteristics and determining factors. Using the Tencent Location Big Data, this paper first analyzes the spatial patterns of interregional population mobility among 328 Chinese cities and aims to identify the influential factors associated with population flows based on the exponential random graph model (ERGM). Supported by social network analysis method, we found that the spatial distribution patterns of population flows were relatively stable, showing a diamond shape with 7 central points, with the most attractive cities located in east developed urban agglomerations. Nevertheless, the proportion of cities with a positive population inflow in the west increased. The subgroup structure gained by Walktrap algorithm suggested that the intra-province flows comprised the majority. Furthermore, variants of ERGMs were used to determine geographic, demographic, economic, natural, and linguistic factors, as well as others related to the level of facilities. The results are in line with the neoclassical economics theory and the amenity-led theory, while amenities' factor played a more significant role. Our research can provide important insights for strengthening network connections among cities to achieve more balanced regional development.

Evaluation of the urban regions of Serbia: Functional polycentricity

The subject of this paper is an evaluation of defined urban regions in Serbia, with an aim towards identifying their basic features, with special emphasis on the measurement of their functional polycentricity. These features include methods with following indicators: share of settled inhabitants to overall population number in the centre of urban region and surrounding area, according to the outcome; concentration level of employees in centres and structure of activities of active population performing an occupation, functional dependence of settlements in the area of the region and determining the functional polycentricity index of the urban region. Therefore, the goal of the paper is to clarify the difference between the urban regions that have developed in the area of Serbia, which are significant factors for further planning of polycentric and balanced regional development. The results of the survey show differences between urban regions. Almost half of the urban regions in Serbia have characteristics of monocentricity, while few polycentric urban regions differ in number of secondary centers. Certain differences between urban regions refer to the results related to share of the employees in primary centres in connection with the secondary centre region, if refers to a polycentric region, or in comparison to the region as a whole, if it implys to monocentric urban regions. All in all, primary differences between urban regions pertain to the degree of functional polycentrism.

Politika ravnomernog regionalnog razvoja Republike Srbije od 2000. do 2018. godine

Balanced regional development is one of the cornerstones of sustainable economic growth and development of any country. During the years that followed the democratic changes in 2000, the Republic of Serbia found itself in sinister transitional processes. One of the key transitional issues was the policy of balanced regional development. Therefore, the aim of this research is to examine the mechanisms and instruments of balanced regional development in the Republic of Serbia in the period from 2000 to 2018 as well as the effects of their implementation in practice. The results of the research indicate the presence of unbalanced regional development throughout the observed period. Although in a normative sense a framework for the implementation of comprehensive and developmental reforms in this area has been set, the results are missing in practice. The reasons for this are hidden in a weakly decentralized state, partial reform steps taken exclusively from above to bottom, inefficient coordination of the subjects of regional development, but also in the unfavorable historical heritage in this area. In conclusion, we emphasize that the process of the accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union represents a great opportunity to balance its regional development, considering that the European Union is paying more and more attention to regional development through its institutions and mechanisms of regional policy. In the research, we will use methods of analysis and analysis of content of documents, case studies and comparative method.

Формування стратегії регіонального розвитку в Україні

The subject of the research is theoretical foundations and practical aspects of the State-based regional development in Ukraine, which is influenced by the process of decentralization. The article describes the status and characteristic tendencies of unification of regions of Ukraine. The problems of «duplication» of administrative functions of subjects of the State-based regional policy, as well as establishment of interaction of the State bodies with local self-government are considered. Negative results from delegation of powers to local public authorities and transfer of financial resources to city budgets are disclosed. The article researches reasons for the imbalance of regions and its consequences according to different indicators, as well as the mechanism of the State-based regulation of balanced development of regions. It is determined that the regional development strategy should solve the real problems of the functioning of amalgamated hromadas and effectively implement decentralization processes. The place of information policy in the system of making effective managerial decisions is defined. The authors substantiate the objective need to form a more practical strategy and its possible impact on the development of local units and the country in general. The instruments of public administration in the process of abuse of power at the regional level are examined. A number of top-priority problems are specified, which should be solved in the process of implementation of the decentralization reform. In particular, the issue of «local oligarchy», abuse and corruption in the context of decentralization of budgets are considered. According to the results of the research, promising directions for improving the regional development strategy for the effective functioning of the capacity of territorial hromadas for the purpose of social and economic development of society are defined.

An Empirical Research on the Problems and Prospects Perceived by the Small Scale Entrepreneurs in Salem District

Small-scale entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu, especially in Salem district, produce an enormous variety of products which include mass consumption goods, readymade garments, hosiery goods, electrical products, handlooms and handicrafts. The contribution of small industries in these areas to the balanced regional development of whole state as well as the country is noteworthy. This study is confined to small-scale industries which are located in Salem District of Tamil Nadu, India. Since, the objective of this study is to analyze the problem and prospects of the small-scale entrepreneurs in the study area covering a period of ten years from 2001-2002 to 2011-2012, the findings of the study will be useful for the entrepreneurs who are engaged in small-scale industries for further development and progress of their establishments and thereby growth of the economy. The research will also be useful for the academicians and policy makers.

МЕХАНІЗМИ УЗГОДЖЕННЯ ПРІОРИТЕТІВ ЗАГАЛЬНОДЕРЖАВНИХ ТА РЕГІОНАЛЬНИХ СТРАТЕГІЙ РОЗВИТКУ

the process of creating a new decentralized management system a necessary element is a combination of national, regional and local interests, taking into account the local specificity of socio-economic, political and cultural development, which reflects the need to formulate priorities for regional development on their basis It is proved that the task for the science and practice of public administration is to find and provide such mechanisms that would maintain the optimal correlation between different levels of government, ensure territorial integrity, unity of the state and the desire of the regions to realize their own potential, to provide relevant services to the population and to implement strategies as effectively as possible. decentralization conditions based on the established regional development priorities. It is determined that in order to unify a unified approach to determining the priorities of regional development in such a methodology, it is advisable: to consider the combination of sectoral, spatial and management approaches to the formation of priorities, which will allow rational use of scarce resources, minimize their loss; will promote the utilization of existing local potential, activate the initiative of local authorities in the formation and implementation of priorities and in general, will lead to the formation of a positive synergistic effect in the process of implementation of the priorities of regional development; prioritize regional development based on the following steps:formulating regional development problems, assigning them a rank or place in importance, moving from a description of problems to determining the priority of solving them in the parallel distribution of priorities by value. It is proved that the proposed mechanism of formation of priorities of regional development will allow to ensure sustainable and balanced development of regions, to bring the standard of living closer to European standards and to create conditions for increasing economic activity in all regions of the country, which will contribute to the gradual mitigation of regional disproportions in territories and will protect society from the considerable cost of restoring proper living conditions.

An Empirical Research on Business Dimensions of Small-Scale Entrepreneurs in Salem, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the well developed States in terms of industrial development. In the post-liberalization era, Tamil Nadu has emerged as one of the front-runners by attracting a large number of investment proposals particularly in recent times. Today, Tamil Nadu is the third largest economy in India and its current State Domestic Product is well over US $ 23 billion. Small-Scale entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu, especially in Salem district, produce an enormous variety of products which include mass consumption goods, readymade garments, hosiery goods, electrical products, handlooms and handicrafts. The contribution of small industries in these areas to the balanced regional development of whole state as well as the country is noteworthy. Therefore, there is a need to provide need base training to such people in order to bring them into mainstream in the ongoing process of economic growth. In this study, primary data was collected from 225 entrepreneurs in and around Salem area through questionnaire. Respondents were mainly running MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) units and those involved in trading business were not included in the sample size. Convenience sampling technique was adopted for data collection. Simple percentage analysis and Henry Garrett ranking techniques were used for data analysis. Based on the findings of the study suitable suggestions were arrived. This research would be of immense help to Small-scale entrepreneurs and both state and central government to formulate strategies based on key business dimensions and parameters in order to sustain in the competitive market place.

Політико-правове забезпечення збалансованого регіонального розвитку: український та світовий досвід

Збалансований регіональний розвиток є системним підходом до управління регіоном, що враховує його багатовимірність та багатоаспектність при одночасному визнанні здатності до самовідновлення та динамічної адаптації до змін, а не лише збереження регіону в певному «ідеальному» сталому стані. При цьому політико-правове забезпечення є базисом формування збалансованого регіонального розвитку.
 Метою статті є компаративний аналіз українського та світового досвіду політико-правового забезпечення збалансованого регіонального розвитку.
 Наукова новизна. У статті вперше проаналізовано нормативно-правове забезпечення збалансованого регіонального розвитку в Україні. Автор навів та порівняв основні аспекти збалансованого розвитку регіону, відображені в законодавстві України. Встановлено, що в країні склалася вкрай нераціональна система управління регіональним розвитком, яка потребує зміни свідомості та підходів до управління. Значна увага приділена нормативно-правовому забезпеченню реалізації концепції збалансованого регіонального розвитку в Євросоюзі. Також досліджено інструментарій досягнення збалансованого регіонального розвитку країнами Великої сімки.
 Висновки. Кожний регіон є унікальним зі своїми специфічними передумовами та пріоритетами розвитку, тому в основу стратегії збалансованого розвитку мають бути покладені принципи регіональної індивідуальності, взаємозалежності і взаємозумовленості екологічної, соціальної та економічної сфер на територіальному рівні. Одночасно, національну та регіональні стратегії бажано розробляти з урахуванням світових стандартів. Проведене дослідження дозволило сформулювати основні детермінанти, що визначають сутність збалансованого регіонального розвитку, а саме: самодостатність, партнерство, відкритість, довготривалість, гнучкість і відповідальність.

지역균형발전의 정치경제 - 고향세 도입의 실효성 시탐과 비판적 검토 -

지역균형발전의 정치경제 - 고향세 도입의 실효성 시탐과 비판적 검토 -

The “one-city monopoly index”: Measurement and empirical analysis of China

The “one-city monopoly” is a controversial phenomenon. This paper proposed and adopted the “one-city monopoly index” (OMI) to dynamically measure its evolution characteristics. The relationship among the OMI, urban competitiveness and unbalanced provincial development was investigated. The results show that (1) the “one-city monopoly” is a complex and bewildering phenomenon that occurs during the processes of urbanization and regional development in the central and western regions of China, and it is still needed; (2) there is a dynamic relationship between the OMI and its urban comprehensive competitiveness (UCC); and (3) the fluctuations of the “one-city monopoly” phenomenon in the primate cities of the provinces are obviously correlated with the change in the intra-provincial development gap. Therefore, on the one hand, we cannot excessively restrain the growth of a primate city under the guise of “promoting balanced regional development”. On the other hand, we should not blindly pursue the ranking of urban competitiveness but give due consideration to the balanced development of cities or regions. Primate cities are also responsible for promoting the overall economic, social, cultural and ecological development of the provinces, and higher-quality regional coordinated development can be realized by further enhancing the spillover effects of primate cities.

Development of the system of criteria and indicators of improvement of organizational conditions of the balanced development of the region

The complexity of regional socio-ecology-economic systems, their multiaspectness in the conditions of globalization and the increasing competition demands immediate development of theoretic-methodological provisions and practical recommendations for a conclusion of subjects to a positive trajectory of sustainable development that will allow promoting all macroeconomic interests of participants. As the end result of the subsequent coherence of organizational and economic, socio-ecology-economic and other purposes of economic entities of regional economy there has to be a possibility of ensuring the balanced development of territorial subjects of the Russian Federation. The analysis of conditions which limit development of regions or in different directions influence regional economy, allow developing the perspective directions of the successful solution of problems of the balanced development of territories. Similar situation speaks about need of development of the system of criteria and indicators of improvement of organizational conditions of the balanced development of regions.

Urban System in Serbia—The Factor in the Planning of Balanced Regional Development

This paper analyzes the basic characteristics of Serbia’s urban system after World War II. The term urban system is largely determined by the use and functioning of the space in which it exists. We used the methods common in urban geography, notably the Rank-Size Rule and the Law of the Primate City with the aim of identifying the basic regularities, as the first step in an in-depth study of an under-researched topic. The research seeks to contribute to explaining the causes of the previous and current situation in the national settlement network, as a prerequisite for planning the future organization of the settlement network. Our study, conducted in Serbia, finds polarization apparent in the prominent domination of the capital city in terms of population, and this is a key feature of Serbia’s urban system. The current situation is the result of an intensive process of urbanization, but also of the establishment of new administrative boundaries after the disintegration of Yugoslavia. The study also seeks to suggest the most appropriate development model for Serbia’s urban system that could help overcome the extreme population concentration in Belgrade and create a basis for organizing an optimal system of centers. Keeping in mind that uneven regional development is determined by the features of the urban system, polycentric development is a common model for overcoming extreme polarization on a global level.

Effects of environmental regulation on the upgrading of Chinese manufacturing industry.

In recent years, China has constantly strengthened environmental regulation (ER) to force the manufacturing industry to upgrade. This study theoretically analyzes interaction mechanism of ER on the upgrading of manufacturing industry through foreign direct investment (FDI) and technological innovation (TI) and carries out empirical verification by using provincial panel data from 2000 to 2016 in China. The results demonstrate that the current ER intensity in China is unable to directly promote the upgrading of manufacturing industry, while through the interaction effects of FDI and TI do boost the upgrading of the industry. The above mechanisms are also robust even if we take the regional heterogeneity into consideration. Basic education and urbanization are favorable for the upgrading of the manufacturing industry. However, the increase in dependence on foreign trade is not conducive to upgrading manufacturing industry. Chinese government should further strengthen ER and give full play of the interaction mechanism of ER to guide the flow of foreign investment and force enterprises to carry out TI. In the meanwhile, Chinese government also needs to ensure balanced regional development, thus better promoting the upgrading of manufacturing industry.

SPATIAL PATTERNS OF DOMESTIC AIR PASSENGER TRAFFIC GENERATION IN NIGERIA

This study aims at analyzing the spatial patterns of domestic air passenger traffic generated by the interacting city-pairs in Nigeria’s air transportation system at five points in time – 2003, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 to establish the spatial and temporal changes that have taken place over time. It also examined the relationships between the populations of the cities and the volumes of domestic air passenger traffic generated by the cities to establish the impact of population on the traffic generating capacity of the cities. The volumes of domestic air passengers handled by each city, the percentage share of total traffic, the populations of the cities, the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and the student’s ‘t’ test were used for the analyses. The study revealed that Lagos was the dominant domestic air passenger traffic generation centre. It established that few centres generated most of the domestic air passenger traffic in Nigeria and that the spatial pattern of traffic generation tended more towards concentration than dispersal. The study also found that there were statistically positive relationships between the populations of the cities and the volumes of traffic generated by the cities. Balanced regional development is recommended, among others, to help redistribute population among the cities in the air transportation system in Nigeria so as to increase their air passenger traffic generating capacity.