This paper falls into the broad area of economic geography and economics of creativity,and it presents an alternative approach to explain why total factor productivity(TFP)growth is different across China′s regions.It establishes an empirical model to estimate the spatial agglomeration effects of creative industries on regional TFP growth,using China′s provincial panel data during the period of 2003 to 2010.We found that the creative industries agglomeration(CIA)has significant and positive impact on regional TFP growth.The result also implies that the CIA can facilitate regional TFP growth through promoting regional innovation instead of improving regional efficiency.Therefore,we argue that policy makers should take some measures to retain and establish more creative zones.
The paper presents an alternative approach to explain why regional productivity is different across regions by utilizing the creative class approach in China. First, we analyze the extent of spatial agglomeration of the creative class across regions in China. Second, we develop a model with spatial externalities to investigate how the concentration of the creative class can promote regional productivity. Our analysis confirms the importance of spatial agglomeration of the creative class in stimulating regional productivity. The results also imply that regional productivity is greater in markets with higher levels of innovation, capital stock, manufacturing and urbanization. In light of the results of our analysis, we discuss a number of policy implications.
