Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2014, Vol. 69 ›› Issue (6): 823-837.doi: 10.11821/dlxb201406009

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Changing financial flow patterns and driving mechanisms of financial flows under the integration of the Yangtze River Delta:An analysis of the financial transaction data of listed companies

JI Feifei1,2, CHEN Wen1, WEI Yehua Dennis3, YUAN Feng1   

  1. 1. Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, CAS, Nanjing 210008, China;
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China;
    3. Department of Geography and IPIA, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-9155, USA
  • Received:2013-11-23 Revised:2014-03-31 Online:2014-06-20 Published:2014-06-20
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41130750, No.41329001; National Social Science Fund (Major Research Plan), No.11&ZD001

Abstract: Financial flow is a driving force to promote regional development and economic growth. Based on theories of new economic geography and financial geography, this article theoretically and empirically analyzes financial flows under an integrated framework of marketization, globalization, decentralization and integration. Through a study of the financial situation and financial transaction data including block trade, share transfer, related party transaction and transaction in assets of listed companies of the 16 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, this paper builds a financial flow network and measures its density and centrality. The results show that, although financial added value ratio and employee ratio slightly narrowed from 2002 to 2011, gaps between cities still exist, while links between these cities have become closer even expanded across provincial borders. The financial network density rises from 0.2250 to 0.4667, with more and more listed companies trading with or even distributing their subsidiaries to other cities. Shanghai, as a global financial center, along with other developed cities such as Nanjing, Hangzhou and Ningbo, intensifies financial flows and integrates the Yangtze River Delta with the global financial market. Meanwhile, other cities in this region are relatively marginalized from the competition. We used QAP network to analyze the driving forces and found that import and export, foreign direct investment, cultural diversity, foreign invested financial institutions and local policies play important roles in financial flows, while added value of financial rate and local revenue self-governing rate are not that important. The results also show that marketization is the most important driving force of financial flows. Although decentralization might sometimes restrict the flow of financial resource into smaller cities, together with globalization and marketization, it put financial resource flow into the broader region of the Yangtze River Delta. This paper discusses how to study financial diversity and financial flow from a geographical angle of view, which might inspire researchers in related field.

Key words: financial flow, social networkanalysis, Yangtze River Delta, financial integration, financial geography, China