The impact of total factor mobility on rural-urban symbiosis: Evidence from 27 Chinese provinces

Abstract

The rational flow and optimal allocation of urban and rural factors is the key to solving the problem of unbalanced and insufficient urban and rural development. This study draws on the theory of ecological symbiosis to examine the mechanism of factor flow and urban-rural symbiosis. It analyzes panel data from 27 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions between 2010 and 2020 to empirically demonstrate the influence of labor, capital, technology, and land mobility on urban-rural symbiosis. The study found that: (1) The relationship between the total factor flow and urban-rural symbiosis is U-shaped nonlinear, and the time when cities feed the development of rural areas has come; (2) The impact of labor factor flow on urban-rural symbiosis exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship, the impact of capital factor flow displays a positive U-shaped relationship, the impact of land factor flow shows an inverted U-shaped relationship, and the impact of technical factor flow on urban-rural symbiotic development is not significant. (3) The factor flow exerts a region-oriented impact on the level of urban-rural symbiosis. In developed areas, total factor flow does not affect urban-rural symbiosis, but the level of labor flow and the urban-rural symbiosis demonstrates an inverted U-shaped relationship, the flow of technological factors has a U-shaped impact on the urban-rural symbiosis level, the flow of land factors and the urban-rural symbiosis show an inverted U-shaped relationship, and the flow of capital factors has no impact on the urban-rural symbiosis relationship. In underdeveloped areas, the impact of the total factor flow on urban-rural symbiosis shows a significantly positive U-shaped characteristic, the labor mobility level and urban-rural symbiosis show an inverted U-shaped relationship, the flow of capital factors has a U-shaped impact on the urban-rural symbiosis level, and the flow of lands and technology does not have a remarkable impact on urban-rural symbiosis in underdeveloped areas.