| Promoting the coordinated development of regional economies is a necessary requirement for implementing the new development philosophy and promoting Chinese path to modernization.The report of the 20 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China takes “Promoting the coordinated development of regional economies”and “Building coordinated development pattern of large,medium and small cities based on city clusters and metropolitan areas” as important contents of accelerating the construction of new development pattern and promoting high-quality economic development.In recent years,with the steady implementation of major regional strategies such as the integrated of the Yangtze River Delta,the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt,as well as the continuous improvement of regional policy systems,China has made historic achievements in regional coordinated development.However,there are great challenges in China at the same time.First,unbalanced and inadequate regional development remains a serious problem.The development gap between the cities within the region is still large,and the central city’s radiation driving effect on small and medium-sized cities is insufficient.Central cities and small and mediumsized cities have not reached the optimal agglomeration scale and achieved full development.Second,the lack of development impetus of small and medium-sized cities has become one of the weaknesses in achieving common prosperity for all.As the key nodes and infrastructure of urban agglomeration network system,small and medium-sized cities are the essential strategic fulcrum for constructing the new development pattern of urban agglomeration.Therefore,how to promote the development of small and medium-sized cities and improve their economic efficiency is of great significance to promote the coordinated development of regional economy and achieve common prosperity for all.The concept of borrowed size was first proposed by Alonso(1973),which provides a new research perspective for the current development of small and mediumsized cities.He found that small cities could borrow the agglomeration economy of their large neighbors,while avoiding agglomeration costs,and thus exhibit characteristics similar to those of large cities.In the development of regional economy,the coordinated development of small and medium-sized cities and central cities is the key to give play to the agglomeration advantage and scale effect of urban agglomerations,and is the prerequisite for realizing the coordinated development pattern of regional economy based on urban agglomerations.As the link between central cities and small and medium-sized cities,borrowed size provides a new theoretical entry point for the study of economic efficiency improvement of small and medium-sized cities.Although the borrowed size effect has gradually drawn extensive attention from the academic community in recent years,there are still relatively few studies focusing on it,and the research conclusions are scattered and lack of systematic sorting.Based on this,this paper attempts to study the impact of borrowed size on the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities from both theoretical and empirical levels.This paper not only provides an effective way for small and mediumsized cities to break through the scale restriction and improve economic efficiency,but also provides a more specific theoretical reference for solving the practical problems of unbalanced and inadequate regional development.This paper follows the logical framework of “theoretical analysis-characteristic facts-empirical test-policy inspiration”: first,based on the theoretical system of new economic geography,this paper refers to Ottaviano(2007)model and explores the impact of borrowed size on the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities by means of equilibrium analysis.Then,this paper analyzes the main mechanism of borrowed size on the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities.Secondly,this paper constructs the calculation formula of borrowed size from the two dimensions of performance and function respectively,and estimates the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities by using the SFA model.Furthermore,this paper analyzes the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of borrowed performance,borrowed function and economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities respectively.Third,based on theoretical analysis,this paper builds an econometric model to empirically examine the impact of borrowed performance and borrowed function on the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities,as well as the heterogeneity effect and the mechanism.Finally,according to the main research findings,this paper puts forward the relevant policy recommendations.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:First,the temporal and spatial evolution analysis of borrowed size and economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities shows that:(1)the borrowed performance and borrowed function level of small and medium-sized cities in the Yangtze River Delta are on the rise on the whole,and show the characteristics of Jiangsu Province >Zhejiang Province > Anhui province in province level;In terms of spatial distribution pattern,borrowed performance is at a low level on the whole,and borrowed function showed the spatial characteristics of “high level in the central part and low level in the north and south”;The regional gaps of them all show a trend of first widening and then narrowing.(2)The economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities in the Yangtze River Delta shows a trend of decline in fluctuation,and the urban economic efficiency obviously lags behind the urban economic growth;In terms of spatial distribution pattern,urban economic efficiency presents a “spindle” spatial pattern,with fewer cities at high level and low level,and more cities at medium level,and the regional gap shows a decreasing trend.Second,the empirical analysis of borrowed performance affecting economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities shows that:(1)Borrowed performance promotes the improvement of economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities.This result is still robust after replacing the measurement indicators of explained variables,replacing the measurement indicators of core explanatory variables,using dynamic panel regression model and instrumental variable method to deal with the endogenous problems of the model,eliminating outliers,and considering the time-lag effect of borrowed performance.(2)Heterogeneity analysis shows that,in terms of city size,borrowed performance has a more significant effect on economic efficiency of small cities compared with medium-sized cities;In terms of urban location,borrowed performance plays a more significant role in improving the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities along the Yangtze River and those close to the central city and coastline.In terms of urban characteristics,borrowed performance plays a more significant role in improving the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities with higher transport infrastructure and those joining the Yangtze River Delta Urban Economic Coordination Committee.Third,by examining the mechanism of borrowed performance affecting the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities,this paper finds that:(1)Borrowed performance can promote the economic efficiency of small and mediumsized cities by improving capital misallocation,while the improvement of labor mismatch by borrowed performance is related to the level of urban transport infrastructure.For small and medium-sized cities with high transport infrastructure level,borrowed performance can promote the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities by improving the degree of labor mismatch.(2)Promoting technological innovation is an important mechanism to improve the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities by using performance.No matter from the perspective of invention patent,utility model patent and appearance design patent,the promoting effect of borrowed performance on technological innovation of small and medium-sized cities is significant;(3)Borrowed performance can improve the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities through economic agglomeration effect.Borrowed performance can significantly promote the economic agglomeration of small and medium-sized cities from the perspective of non-agricultural output density,non-agricultural employment density and non-agricultural industry location entropy.Fourth,the empirical analysis of the influence of borrowed function on the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities shows that:(1)Borrowed function can promote the improvement of the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities.The robustness test is carried out from replacing the measured indicators of explained variables,replacing the measured indicators of core explanatory variables,using the dynamic panel regression model and instrumental variable method to deal with the endogenous problems of the model,eliminating outliers and considering the time lag effect of borrowed function,etc.,which still supports the basic conclusion that borrowed function promotes the improvement of the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities.(2)Heterogeneity analysis shows that,in terms of city size,borrowed function has a more significant effect on economic efficiency of small cities compared with medium-sized cities;In terms of urban location,borrowed function plays a more significant role in improving the economic efficiency of the cities along the Yangtze River,the small and medium-sized cities close to the central city and the coastline.In terms of urban characteristics,borrowed function plays a more significant role in improving the economic efficiency of small and mediumsized cities with higher transport infrastructure and small and medium-sized cities in the G60 Science and Innovation Corridor of the Yangtze River Delta.Fifth,by examining the mechanism of borrowed function affecting the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities,this paper finds that:(1)Borrowed function can improve the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities by improving capital mismatch and labor mismatch.(2)Borrowed function can improve the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities by promoting the level of urban financial development.No matter in terms of the ratio of the loan balance of financial institutions at the end of the year to GDP in each region or the per capita loan balance of financial institutions at the end of the year,borrowed function has a significant promoting effect on the financial development level of small and mediumsized cities.(3)Taking the number of new enterprises per 100 people as the proxy variable of urban entrepreneurial activity,it is found that for small and medium-sized cities with high transport infrastructure or close distance to the central city,borrowed function can improve the urban economic efficiency by improving the entrepreneurial activity of small and medium-sized cities.This paper contributes to the current literature in four aspects.First,this paper expands the research perspective of small and medium-sized cities.In the past,CorePeriphery Model focused on the agglomeration economy of central cities,but ignored the initiative of peripheral small and medium-sized cities in the development of urban agglomeration.This paper studies the development of small and medium-sized cities from the perspective of scale,this paper further enriches and expands the research on the Core-Periphery Model.Second,this paper constructs the theoretical analysis framework of the influence of borrowed size on the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities.At present,the researches on borrowed size have only begun to rise in recent years,and most of them are empirical studies.Few literatures systematically explain the influence of borrowed size on the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities and its mechanism theoretically.Third,this paper empirically tests the impact,heterogeneity and mechanism of borrowed size on economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities from two dimensions of performance and function.Previous empirical studies on the borrowed size rarely distinguish the performance and function of the size,but this paper firstly uses the data of city districts and county-level cities to distinguish and test the impact of the borrowed performance and borrowed function on the economic efficiency of small and mediumsized cities,and further studies the effect of borrowed size.Based on the above research findings,this paper puts forward relevant policy recommendations.First,unblock the circulation channels of elements between small and medium-sized cities and central cities.Improve the transportation infrastructure,and promote the reasonable flow and efficient agglomeration of various factors between small and medium-sized cities and central cities;Deepen cooperation between local governments and provide an important guarantee for the flow of production factors between small and medium-sized cities and central cities.Secondly,urban agglomeration is an important carrier for small and medium-sized cities to implement size borrowed.We will continue to promote coordinated development of large,medium and small cities based on city clusters,rationally distribute the division of functions within city clusters,and accelerate the development of a unified large market.Third,the economic efficiency of small and medium-sized cities should be improved through size borrowed.Actively promote the construction of trans-regional innovation platform,break the regional and sectoral barriers of scientific and technological innovation,and promote the trans-regional flow of scientific and technological innovation achievements;Cultivate and develop advantageous industries to improve the economic agglomeration level of small and medium-sized cities;Promote the specialization function division and cooperation among cities to achieve the Pareto optimal allocation of urban agglomeration resources;Promote cross-regional cooperation in the financial industry and financial policies. |
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