TITLE:
The Innovation Effect of Civilized City: Evidence from the Prefecture-Level Cities in China
AUTHORS:
Fangju Jiang, Baoshi Tang, Weitao Li, Jinmei Hu
KEYWORDS:
Civilized City Campaign, Urban Innovation Effect, Agglomeration, High-Skilled labor Force, Public R&D Expenditure
JOURNAL NAME:
Chinese Studies,
Vol.13 No.3,
July
31,
2024
ABSTRACT: At the beginning of the 21st century, in order to improve the degree of urban civilization, improve the environment, and life quality; the Chinese government launched the civilized city campaign in 1999, which is the highest honorary title. What are the driving forces for urban innovation in the context of high-quality development? Does the civilized city campaign promote urban innovation? This paper employs the difference in difference (DID) method to investigate the impact of civilized city campaigns on urban innovation. The results show that: 1) the campaign improves the urban innovation. 2) Further analysis shows that the campaign can promote the urban innovation through direct mechanism and indirect mechanism. Direct mechanism is agglomeration of high-skilled labor force and increase of public R&D expenditure, Indirect mechanism is urban agglomeration. 3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the campaign has a better effect on those which has good economic foundation and high-level green development.