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The Role of China’s High-Tech Zones in Its Regional Economic Development
Liu Ruiming (刘瑞明) and Zhao Renjie (赵仁杰)
Research Institute, People’s Bank of China, Beijing, China
Abstract: National high-tech industrial development zones represent a major strategy
of the Chinese government in developing high-tech industries and spurring regional
economic growth. The effect of this policy is yet to be proven. Based on the panel data of
283 Chinese cities between 1984 and 2012, this paper investigates the effect of high-tech
zones on regional economic development. Empirical results suggest that first, national high-
tech zones have remarkably enhanced regional GDP and per capita GDP growth, and this
conclusion still holds true after multiple rounds of robustness test; second, the economic
effect of national high-tech zones is subject to diminishing marginal return and compared
with higher-tier cities, lower-tier cities benefited more from the creation of national high-
tech zones. This paper concludes that national high-tech zones where special policies are
experimented and offered not only drive economic development but, if properly distributed
across regions, may help reduce regional economic disparities as well. The results of this
study provide important implications for the future distribution of national high-tech zones
and the creation of other relevant policies.
Kmeetyhwodords: national high-tech zones, regional economic growth, difference-in-differences
JEL Classification Codes: E43, E44, E52, E63
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