Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2015, Vol. 70 ›› Issue (12): 1926-1938.doi: 10.11821/dlxb201512006

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Characteristics and spillover effects of space division of producer service in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan region: Based on spatial panel model

Qiangmin XI1,3(), Guoping LI2,3()   

  1. 1. School of Economics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071,China
    2. School of Government, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
    3. Innovation Consortium for Jing-Jin-Ji Collaborative Development, Beijing 100871, China
  • Received:2014-06-24 Revised:2015-06-17 Online:2015-12-25 Published:2015-12-25

Abstract:

The rational space division of producer services in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan region plays an extremely important role in promoting coordinated and integrated regional development. In this research, we use the prefecture-level panel data of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan region for the period of 2003-2012 to estimate the spatial characteristics and industrial features of the producer service division in the region. We also estimate the spatial spillover effects of various producer service industries among the cities on the basis of a spatial panel econometric model. The main conclusions can be drawn as follows. (1) Beijing and Tianjin exhibit diversification in the division system of their producer services, whereas 11 cities in Hebei Province show specialization, mostly focusing on the development of their financial service and transportation sectors. (2) The division index of the producer services between Beijing and Tianjin is relatively low, and the producer service structures of these cities show a convergence trend. (3) The division indexes of the financial, business, and information service sectors in the region are relatively high, whereas those of the technology and real estate service sectors are significantly low. (4) The spillover effects of the real estate and technology service sectors with a low division index are remarkable. However, as a result of the limitation of transaction cost and the demand for "face-to-face" contact, the spatial spillovers perform best at a distance of around 150 km. When the distance goes beyond this specified range, the spatial spillovers are evidently reduced. The spillover effects of the transportation, finance service, and business service sectors with a high division index are not significant and should improve the industrial linkage between cities in the future. The scope of the spatial effect of the information service sector is exceedingly limited, as it only reflects the correlation among neighboring cities. Results of this study demonstrate that spatial spillover performs satisfactorily, whereas the localization of the service sector is poor.

Key words: regional industrial division, producer service, spatial spillover effect, spatial panel econometrics, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan region