By Sun Zhiyan, Research Team on “Strategies and Policy Options for Boosting the Balanced Regional Development”, Department of Development Strategy and Regional Economy, DRC

Research Report, No.109, 2019 (Total 5609) 2019-7-9

Abstract: Influenced by multiple factors such as the profound adjustments of the global division of labor pattern and the digital transformation of industries, China’s regional imbalanced development presents more complex characteristics. The regional labor productivity has become even more differentiated compared with per capita GDP. The structural imbalance of local fiscal expenditure has further widened the gap in regional development capacity. The imbalanced spatial flow of population, capital and other factors is intensified, and the two-way polarization phenomenon of “getting old before getting rich" in less developed regions due to the decreased number of working age population and the sustainable and clustered advance in developed regions is becoming aggravated. Therefore, this paper proposes to ameliorate the traditional division of labor among the four regions (the western, northeastern, central and eastern regions) and administrative districts to promote balanced regional development, and to leverage the role of urban agglomerations in leading balanced regional development. Relevant government departments need to take “equal access to regional public services” as the primary task to promote balanced development in various regions and actively use new technologies to innovate the mode of supply and allocation of public services. Regional policies need to lay more focus on establishing a regional mechanism for coordinated development conducive to “shared growth” among regions, and strive to mitigate the “siphon effect” on the part of developed regions in pooling talents through institutional arrangements.

Key words: balanced regional development, equal access to public services, shared growth