The impact of producer services agglomeration on the industrial structure upgrading: Evidence from the four urban agglomerations in China

Abstract

Abstract According to different agglomeration patterns of producer services, the paper empirically tests the impact of producer services agglomeration on industrial structure upgrading by using the data of 59 prefecture level cities in China's four major urban agglomerations from 2005 to 2018. The results show that producer services agglomeration in the four urban agglomerations has a significant impact on industrial structure upgrading, and the robustness test show that the research conclusion is reliable, but the impact effects of different agglomeration patterns on industrial structure upgrading are different. Specifically, producer services specialization agglomeration has a "U" shaped effect on industrial structure upgrading, while diversification agglomeration has an inverted "U" shaped effect on industrial structure upgrading. The unbalanced economic development between urban agglomerations determines that there are differences in the impact of producer services agglomeration on industrial structure upgrading. Therefore, the paper further empirically tests the impact of producer services agglomeration on industrial structure upgrading from a regional perspective. The results show that the impact of producer services agglomeration on industrial structure upgrading shows obvious regional differences in action direction, action stage and extreme point, et al. Basing on the conclusions of the research, the paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions to accelerate the industrial structure upgrading of China's four major urban agglomerations from the aspects of accelerating the agglomeration development of producer services and formulating differentiated development strategies.