Causal Nexus between Sci-Tech Talent and Economic Growth in the Pan-Yangtze River Delta of China

Abstract

Spatial coupling analysis, cointegration, and the Granger causality test model were adapted from a geographical perspective to analyse the relationship between sci-tech talent and economic growth, as well as their spatial differences in the Pan-Yangtze River Delta from 1998 to 2019. The results demonstrate that the sci-tech talent centre of gravity and economic centre of gravity are close to each other, showing as two parallel chains, and there is higher spatial overlap and variation consistency between centres of gravity. Sci-tech talent and economic growth are in a long-term relationship of equilibrium, showing a better fitting cointegration equation, in which the latter affects the former. Shanghai has the greatest elasticity, with a 2.119 coefficient of sci-tech talent, while Zhejiang has the smallest elasticity with a coefficient of 0.859. There are differences in the causal nexus between sci-tech talent and economic growth. Economic growth has a unidirectional effect on sci-tech talent in Shanghai and Jiangsu while sci-tech talent has a unidirectional effect on economic growth in Zhejiang. There is a bidirectional effect between sci-tech talent and economic growth in Anhui. There is also a unidirectional effect from economic growth to sci-tech talent in the entire Pan-Yangtze River Delta.