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Regional Impacts of Foreign Trade in China, 1984–1989
Author(s) -
FAN C. CINDY
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
growth and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.657
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1468-2257
pISSN - 0017-4815
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2257.1992.tb00576.x
Subject(s) - china , economic geography , economics , regional trade , spatial inequality , regional policy , diffusion , inequality , international trade , international economics , geography , free trade , political science , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , archaeology , law , thermodynamics
An issue of heated debate in China is whether the current economic reforms would lead to greater regional inequalities. In this paper one aspect of the reforms, the open‐door policy, is put into focus. Specifically, the analysis investigates how the effect of foreign trade on economic development differs across regions, and whether these regional variations have changed from 1984 to 1989. Based upon the expansion method, models that resolve both the spatial and temporal variations of a relationship are constructed and estimated. The results indicate that foreign trade benefits core provinces and major industrial regions more than other parts of China, but that these differences have diminished in 1989. These findings may be interpreted as evidence of some diffusion of growth from more developed to less developed regions. On the other hand, regional linkages and the mechanisms of diffusion are not well understood and they deserve more attention and research.