Abstract
Regional multi-pole growth is an important spatial form of regional economic organization pattern. We construct a model of regional multi-pole growth evolution to study its mechanism based on the assumption of heterogeneous space and inseparability of the economic subject. The study concludes that the evolution of regional multi-pole growth is affected by factors such as transportation costs, economies of scale, the crowding-out effect, and the factor endowments of superior location and inferior location. Based on the condition that the factor endowment of a location remains the same, with an increased economy of scale effect and a decline in the marginal production cost advantage, location will strengthen the agglomeration layout, which does not help form regional multi-pole growth patterns. With an increase of the crowding-out effect and a decline in the marginal production cost disadvantage, location will strengthen the dispersed layout, which fosters the formation of the regional multi-pole growth pattern. When transportation costs are high, a decline in such costs strengthens the links among locations, fostering the evolution of the regional spatial organization form to shift from dispersion to agglomeration. However, when transportation costs are somewhat reduced, their further reduction leads the regional spatial organization pattern into dispersion. Therefore, under certain conditions and with a decline in transportation costs, regional multi-pole growth weakens first and then strengthens.
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Acknowledgements
Funding was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41601111), National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 17AJL011), and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant No. 2015A030310523).
