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The dual-path model of industrial evolution and spatial progression has been widely acknowledged and incorporated into the strategic planning to promote the development of urban industries and regional collaborations. However, current research on inter-enterprise city networks mainly focuses on the single sector of flows on all enterprise branches, such as product value chains and production factors, but neglects that of particular industry department. Built upon the new economic geography and city networks theory, this paper develops a methodological framework that focuses on the analysis of city network evolution characteristics of smart industry. Particularly, a conceptual model of smart industry enterprise-industry-city is proposed and then applied to a case study of smart industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China. Using enterprise supplier-customer data, a city network of smart industry is constructed and subsequently analyzed with the proposed model. Findings indicate that the smart industry network in Yangtze River Delta Region exhibits a hierarchical structure and the expansion of the network presents a small-world network characteristic. The study not only makes a methodological contribution for revealing the industrial and spatial evolution path of the current smart industry, but also provides empirical support for the formulation of new economic development policies focused on smart industries, demonstrating the role of city clusters as carriers of regional synergistic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intense competition amongst travel apps, regardless of their popularity, has made repurchase intention a critical financial challenge for travel providers. By combining the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework and the New Economic Geography (NEG) theory, this research examined how city tier disparities influence the experiential features of travel apps and user repurchase intentions. Survey data was acquired from 739 travel app users in China. The findings indicate that a set of context-based experiential features significantly influences utilitarian and hedonic values, and consequently leading to a notable increase in repurchase intentions. In addition, the outcomes of a multigroup analysis revealed that China's users located in tier 1 city (i.e. Beijing) and tier 3 city (i.e. Kunming) had distinct effects on the hypothesised relationships. Theoretically, the research provides extensive implications to information systems and tourism literatures; whilst offering some actionable insights to travel practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial policy, as one of the most potent weapons employed by governments, is recommended to adhere to the principles of high relatedness and high economic complexity, which can minimize risks and maximize returns. However, this approach may not be optimal in developing countries with poor industrial bases, limited innovative capabilities and weak institutional frameworks. Based on relatedness and economic complexity, this study illustrates the evolution paths of industrial policy in China and identifies underlying influencing factors deciding the patterns of policymaking. Different from developed countries, it takes several steps for developing countries to reach the final target, the smart specialization approach, instead of one‐step jumping. Moreover, industrial policy is not always the panacea, and the effects of industrial policy vary depending on local contexts. In sum, this study extends research towards the complex co‐evolution process of policy and industries in developing countries and provides more insights for policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous increase in global mariculture production and aquaculture areas, the environmental pollution caused by the mariculture industry is becoming increasingly serious. Faced with environmental issues, countries worldwide have formulated environmental regulations to scientifically intervene in marine environmental pollution issues and promote the green development of the mariculture industry. However, we must determine if strict environmental regulations can effectively promote the green development of the mariculture industry. This article uses the inter-provincial panel data of China's coastal areas from 2003 to 2019 as a sample. We use the entropy-technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution method to measure the intensity of environmental regulation in China's coastal areas and the level of green development of the mariculture industry. On this basis, an economic geography nested matrix was selected to construct a spatial panel econometric model to empirically explore the impact of environmental regulations on the green development of the mariculture industry. This approach also allows us to examine the heterogeneity of the impact of different types of environmental regulations on the green development of the mariculture industry. The research results indicate that environmental regulations have a "U-shaped" impact on the green development of the local mariculture industry, while they have an inverted "U-shaped" impact on the green development of the nearby mariculture industry. Furthermore, heterogeneity exists in the impact of different types of environmental regulations on the green development of the mariculture industry. Based on the research results, this article proposes policy recommendations from the perspectives of flexibly adjusting the intensity of environmental regulations, accelerating the development of voluntary-based environmental regulations, and regulating competition among local governments, which can provide decision-making references for the government to adjust environmental regulation policies and improve the level of green development in the mariculture industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business incubators (BIs) in China have predominantly exhibited a government-led characteristic, recently broadening their spatial and temporal scope and extending reach to the county level. Regarding the inadequacies of county-level analysis scale, this study leverages Points of Interest (POI) big data to overcome them. To comprehend the governmental rationale in the construction of BIs, we examine the evolution dynamics of BIs in conjunction with policies. An economic geography framework is developed, conceptualizing BIs as quasi-public goods and productive services, and incorporating considerations of county-level fiscal operations and industrial structures. Focusing on the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region as a case study, our findings reveal that over 98% of County Administrative Units (CAUs) have built BIs. Using kernel density estimation and Moran's I, the spatial patterns of CAUs are identified. The CAUs are further classified into three categories of economic levels using the k-means algorithm, uncovering differentiated relationships between industry, finance, and their respective BI. Additionally, we analyze the density relationship between BIs and other facilities at a micro-level, showcasing various site selection rationales. The discussions highlight that while BIs tend to align with wealthier areas and advanced industries, affluent CAUs offer location advantages on BIs, whereas less wealthy CAUs prioritize quantity for political achievements. This paper concludes with recommendations about aligning BIs based on conditions and outlooks on future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how internal trade costs affect the Chinese economy. Combining regional and industry data with a multiregional multisector general equilibrium model, we quantify the magnitude of total trade costs and institutional trade costs, and the impact of their changes on aggregate, regional, and sectoral total factor productivity, gross domestic product, and welfare. Using unique data, we estimate the sectoral trade elasticity of internal trade in 16 tradable sectors. We use our calibrated model to perform a variety of counterfactual exercises. We find that the welfare gains are negative for a 5% reduction in total trade costs and for the elimination of institutional trade costs, which can be attributed to inherent inefficiencies in the economy. However, as total trade costs decrease further, the positive welfare effect significantly exceeds the impact of inefficiency. The regional and sectoral effects of changes in trade costs show that the spatial structure of the economy, input‐output linkages, and local factors together determine the heterogeneity of sectoral and regional consequences. Finally, we infer the relative changes in China's internal trade costs from 2012 to 2017, and calculate their economic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic had a prolonged impact on urban economic activities. Cities with better economic resilience are more capable of resisting the shock brought by the epidemic and realizing post-epidemic economic recovery. In such an uncertain environment, both governance capability and local industrial varieties have significant impacts on economic resilience. On the basis of previous works from evolutionary economic geography and institutional studies, this study uses nighttime light intensity as a proxy for economic resilience at prefecture-level. Our findings indicate that, at least in the short term, the effect of governance capacity on economic resilience is moderated by local industry varieties. Hence, the local government may enhance economic resilience via innovation, economic development and urban governance channels, but it should follow the risk transmission mechanism of the regional industrial network. In addition, taking into account the institutional basis of China's central-local relation, local governance capacity was compressed in the prevention and control of epidemic, mitigating its function on the long-term economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and development of new industry play a key role in regional development and economic growth. This study explores the e-sports industry evolution, a typical cross-sector new industry, through a theoretical lens of the evolutionary economic geography (EEG) based on Chinese e-sports industry enterprise data between 1998–2018 and examines the influencing factor by multivariate regression. Results show e-sports industry development is a typical evolutionary process that combines spin-off, path creation, spatial evolution, and firms’ network. Furthermore, the e-sports industry is characterized by the integration of the sports and creative industries. However, technology correlated-based knowledge spillover from culture and sports does not significantly impact the e-sports industry, whereas the knowledge spillover from the information software industry promotes e-sports industry development. The regression result also confirms that the institution and culture significantly impact the industrial development. This study enriches the knowledge body of evolutionary economic geography from case studies of the e-sports industry, and also expands the existing study system of emerging industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning technologies has instigated advancements in IoT, and machine learning has revolutionized SMEs, reshaping their role in regional economic growth. These technologies provide SMEs with innovative tools, fostering connectivity within regional ecosystems. This transformation is crucial for China's economic realignment in its 'new normal' phase, with enterprises driving social and economic progress. This study proposed the XGBoost algorithm and IoT data enhance collaboration among SMEs in regional economies, fostering innovation and driving economic development. The role of IoT and machine learning in promoting sustainable regional economic prosperity. Technological innovation is essential for enterprise survival and growth in a competitive landscape. This paper examines the influence of environmental factors and geography on economic development across China's regions. It focuses on SME coupling and coordination, contributing to regional economic progress through performance evaluation. IoT integration provides SMEs with abundant real-time data, enabling deep insights into customer behavior, supply chains, and production. Simultaneously, the XGBoost algorithm efficiently processes and extracts actionable insights from this data. Data from 11 provinces in the Yangtze River economic belt highlights Jiangsu Province's leadership in regional innovation performance for 2015 and 2020. The empirical results, grounded in datasets amalgamating information from these provinces, attest to the potential of this IoT and XGBoost-driven approach. Boasting an impressive accuracy rate of 91.7%, surpassing alternative machine learning techniques like SVM, KNN, DT, RF, and LR, this research underscores the effectiveness of this integrated strategy in optimizing SME operations. Additionally, it computes the coupling coordination degree, innovation environment ranking, mean value, and numerical changes from 2010 to 2020, with an average innovation coupling coordination degree of 0.1624 across 30 Chinese provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the theory of new economic geography, this paper used panel data from 284 cities in China from 2006 to 2019 to determine the effects of spatial spillover and heterogeneity of manufacturing agglomeration (MA) on urban total factor carbon productivity (TFCP) and the regulatory effect of fiscal decentralization on the outcome. The results showed that (1) MA shifted from the eastern region of China to the central and western regions, with the center of gravity moving towards the south. The spatial pattern of urban TFCP displayed the solidifying characteristics of "low-level agglomeration and high-level dispersion," with technological progress being the primary driver. (2) The MA had a significant U-shaped effect on the TFCP of local and nearby cities, promoting the improvement of urban TFCP through Jacobs' and Porter's externalities but not MAR externalities. (3) Regarding regional differences, MA had a significant U-shaped impact on urban TFCP in the eastern and central regions. At different levels of manufacturing development, there was an inverted U-shaped relationship in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing metropolitan areas. For varying degrees of manufacturing industry agglomeration, increasing the level of MA improved urban TFCP in low agglomeration areas, but inhibited it in high agglomeration areas. (4) The implementation of fiscal decentralization nationwide and in the eastern and central regions significantly weakened the impact of MA on TFCP. Furthermore, fiscal decentralization significantly enhanced the influence of MA on TFCP in cities exhibiting high levels of economic development, advanced industrial structure and strict environmental regulations. Therefore, based on the unique developmental characteristics of the manufacturing industry in various cities, fiscal policies ought to be tailored to local circumstances to support key areas. This strategy should facilitate the high-quality development of manufacturing industry and low-carbon development of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines whether political risks in neighboring countries affect foreign direct investment (FDI) by Chinese firms in host countries. Grounded in the perspective of new economic geography, it employs panel data comprising China's FDI across 37 countries along the Belt and Road, spanning from 2003 to 2021. It expands conventional research, which typically focuses on the two-country model, to include a broader examination involving third countries. Utilizing the spatial Durbin model, this study reveals that China's FDI in countries along the Belt and Road is affected by the host country's political risk environment and the spatial spillover effect of political risks from neighboring countries. Green governance practices in neighboring countries regulate this relationship. The results demonstrate that China's FDI in countries along the Belt and Road reveals a risk-averse tendency, with a preference for investing in countries characterized by relatively low overall political risk. After taking spatial factors into consideration, the spatial spillover effect of political risks is significant, as political risk levels in neighboring countries stimulate FDI from Chinese enterprises in the host country. As an effective way to mitigate ecological and environmental risks, green governance also shows significant spillover effects. By strengthening green governance, that can weaken the stimulating effect of political risks from neighboring countries on FDI inflow to host countries. Consequently, investors perceive fewer political risks in neighboring countries and are inclined to invest in those with higher levels of green governance. These research findings provide insights into Chinese investors to assess and mitigate political risks in countries along the "Belt and Road." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the golden 20 years of the Chinese leather industry as an example, this paper adopts a spatial panel model to accurately portray the characteristics of spatial evolution and the trend of development of agglomeration of the leather industry. This paper further systematically identifies the key driving factors of leather industry agglomeration, taking into account the time effect, spatial effect, and spatio-temporal effect at the same time. The results show that China's leather industry shows a shift from coastal areas to diffusion to inland areas. In terms of influencing factors, resource endowment and economic externality are the key force leading the agglomeration of leather industry. In addition, according to the results of group regression, it is found that innovation capacity and environmental regulation have become the main driving forces affecting the development of leather industry. Therefore, the government should carry out global planning according to the spatial pattern and transfer path of leather industry agglomeration. Based on the deep-level driving mechanism of industrial pattern evolution, specific industrial measures should be formulate to realize the development and promotion of leather industry in the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 2010s, big data has become a trendy term across government, business, and academia. There is a great deal of ambiguity in the definition of big data and the so-called big data sector it gives rise to. It is thus still debatable what companies can be considered big data firms. Studying such an emerging field and collecting firm-level data through surveys in understudied regions are particularly challenging due to the lack of an established and accessible firm directory. Drawing on a research project on Guizhou, the earliest and most prominent national big data pilot zone in China, this article advances an activity-based approach and advocates a triangulation of methods to identify firms that belong to the big data sector. Corporate information query platforms are used and context-specific solutions are proposed. This article would be of interest to researchers who wish to investigate emerging industries when the target population is vaguely defined and hard to identify. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is increasingly recognised that for clusters to evolve and initiate new developmental paths, they need to bring in various external resources, especially external human capital. However, external talent often has imperfect knowledge regarding distant places; hence, a key challenge for clusters is to overcome this lack of knowledge and unfamiliarity to ensure that external talent becomes aware of the cluster's local assets and the possibilities for (re)locating there. It is thus important for clusters to engage in cluster branding: that is, to promote its assets 'outwards' and to build-up a positive, renowned brand-name. While place branding is already an established theme in urban geography, cluster branding has hitherto been under-examined in the extant cluster literature in economic geography. Moreover, both the well-researched place-branding literature and the limited cluster-branding literature tend to be primarily concerned with official, top-down branding, initiated by government agencies. This article, instead, shows that branding can also involve organic, bottom-up processes driven by the agency of diverse individual actors, working in tandem with governmental actors. Through a case study of an arts and creative cluster, the Jingdezhen ceramics cluster in China, it unpacks how resourceful individual actors – conceptualised as boundary spanners – have become powerful agents in increasing the cluster's legitimacy and visibility in the relevant industries through their personal networks and mobility, thereby contributing to attracting external talent into the cluster. More specifically, the study identifies three bottom-up cluster branding mechanisms, namely: convening temporary clusters locally; participating in external temporary clusters; and representing through digital media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this exchange piece, I engage with Weber's critical analysis, destabilizing the ideological dichotomy of the big bang approach versus experimental gradualism. I suggest that China's past decades of conspicuous economic success are attributed to the political tactics of navigating the variegated sociospatial contingencies, as well as the conjunctures of new rounds of spatial division of labor globally in the 1980s. In sum, I point to the role of the arts of governmentality in reconfiguring domestic economic geography to sustain and facilitate the expansion of market margins for the growth of state power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper responds to the contributions to the review symposium on How China Escaped Shock Therapy. I discuss the strategy of economic system reform that started from the non-essential parts of the industrial system in order to eventually transform the commanding heights; the spatial dimension of reform in relation to "dual circulation" and the coastal development strategy; the nature and meaning of Chinese gradualism; and China's price stabilization strategies of the 1980s in relation to later inflationary challenges. Finally, I reflect on the symposium as a dialogue between economic geography and a history of ideas in action that I pursued in my book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the Sovietization of Chinese geographers during the early People's Republic of China (PRC) using primary sources and published biographies to examine three career paths: red, expert, and red and expert. The red geographers, led by the veteran Communist Sun Jingzhi, who monopolized the field of economic geography, shifted the orientation of geography from the Western model to the model followed in the Soviet Union. The pre-Communist geographers, under the leadership of Harvard-trained Zhu Kezhen, controlled the field of physical geography, relying on their professional training and technical expertise. These two cliques competed for control of the Chinese Geographical Society, its journal, and the Institute of Geography, whereas the Liverpool-trained Hou Renzhi used both redness and expertise to gain prominence in the field of historical geography. This article contends that the reformation of geographers in Communist China continued beyond the political purge of 1949. The twists and turns in career paths derive from the contested nature of the discipline, the changing contours of the science, and connections with institutional structures, all of which illuminate the imbrication of political allegiance, professional expertise, and personal relationships as the geographical tradition persisted in new forms after reformation. In this sense, this article diversifies a history of geography that is too often centered on Anglo-American experiences, and it furthers our understanding of the professionalization of geography as one that has taken a nonlinear course. Key Words: Cold War, Communist China, geographer, history of geography, Sovietization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic geographers exploring the globalisation of food retailing have argued that retail TNCs might secure a foothold in host markets by deepening their territorial embeddedness in regional logistics and supply networks, consumer markets and cultures, and property markets. Yet, over the past decade in China, hitherto one of the most prominent foci for food retail TNC entry, the market has rapidly morphed in ways that have profoundly challenged the ability of international food retailers to deepen or even maintain their territorial embeddedness, with divestment an increasing reality. This paper argues that the advantages retail TNCs initially enjoyed (e.g., superiority in store format design and planning; marketing and IT infrastructure; favourable host market regulations; and efficient sourcing/logistics networks) have atrophied in the face of a maturing retail market characterised by strengthening domestic retail competition, less favourable host market regulations, the rise of digital platforms and markedly shifting customer expectations. As such, a reformulation is required that identifies how three imperatives – which we term online integration, offline reconfiguration and strategic reinforcement – crosscut the existing dimensions of territorial embeddedness and set the context for the strategic responses of retail TNCs and their highly variable effectiveness. More broadly, the paper exposes the dynamic, multi-agent and temporal nature of the retail embeddedness process, with the retail TNC and their strategic responses set against a host market context of intersecting stakeholders, institutions and regulations that are themselves also in a constant state of flux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional integration is an important trend of economic development worldwide, which helps to break the restrictions of administrative divisions on economic development and pollution control. According to the relevant theories of environmental economic geography, regional integration will have an important impact on regional pollution control. Based on China's urban panel data, we empirically tested the impact of regional integration on regional environmental pollution and its mechanism by using econometric analysis methods, such as the difference-in-differences model and the mediating effect model. We found that regional integration can effectively reduce urban pollutant emissions and that the emission reduction effect of regional integration is characterized by significant heterogeneity at different pollution levels. The mechanism analysis showed that the green technology innovation effect of regional integration is an important mechanism for promoting urban emission reduction. The conclusions of this paper enrich the relevant theories of environmental economic geography and provide new ideas to implement integration strategies to promote sustainable economic development in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses spatial panel data on the number of patents in the field of sports in each province from 2017–2022 to explore the spatial and temporal evolution process of the innovation capacity of China's sports industry and analyze its development trend based on theories related to economic geography, using exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and Spatial-temporal correlation analysis research methods. The study shows that: 1. there is a large spatial regional disparity in the innovation capacity of China's sports industry, showing an obvious pattern of strength in the east and weakness in the west. 2. there is an obvious phenomenon of spatial agglomeration in the innovation capacity of China's sports industry and the agglomeration phenomenon in space is gradually increasing. 3. there is a spatial spillover effect in the innovation capacity of China's sports industry, and the inward spillover continues to strengthen mainly into Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangsu provinces, while the outward spillover mainly goes to Guangdong, Hubei, Hebei, Hunan, Sichuan. Sports industry innovation capacity development put forward three suggestions: to promote the development of sports industry in the northwest region; to play the advantages of regional characteristics of sports industry; to accelerate the integration of neighboring regions to build the process. in order to help the high-quality development of sports industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The actions of platforms and their all-inclusive impact on place development is coined platform-based place making in this article. We use the actor-network theory to analyse a typical e-commerce platform-based place making, namely the emergence, development and upgrading of Taobao villages in China, and to explore the mechanisms of platform place making power. Our study shows that platforms 'make' places by platform–place interactions of progressively expanding the enrolment of intra-regional and extra-regional actors. In addition, our research advances the actor-network theory and its application and transcends the urban and production-side bias of economic geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing carbon emissions is the only way to solve the global climate problem, which obviously requires the joint efforts of all regions. From the perspective of carbon emission reduction demand, this research obtains the data of low‐carbon patents and CO2 emissions from 2000 to 2019, and then explores the innovation effect of low‐carbon technology transfer in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). We draw the following conclusions: (1) Low‐carbon technology transfer has a positive impact on low‐carbon technology innovation. However, a large number of low‐carbon technology transfers are concentrated between developed regions in the YREB at present. (2) No matter from the perspective of total amount or efficiency, carbon emission reduction demand can play positive moderating role in the process of exerting the innovation effect of low‐carbon technology transfer, indicating that the transfer of low‐carbon technologies to regions with high demand is efficient. (3) The moderating effect of carbon emission reduction demand in different regions has regional heterogeneity. Carbon emissions per unit of GDP plays a greater role in moderating the innovation effect of low‐carbon technology transfer in the eastern region, while CO2emissions plays a greater role in the central and western regions. Therefore, we propose to strengthen the transfer of low‐carbon technologies between developed and less‐developed regions, and adopt differentiation strategies according to the actual situation of each region. Our research has deepened the understanding of environmental economic geography on the innovation effect of low‐carbon technology transfer, and has reference significance for global low‐carbon technology cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shrinking cities have received increasing attention in recent years given that the emergence of these cities has raised concerns about social equity, stability and sustainability. While extensive studies have attempted to measure the structural changes from a demographic perspective, it remains unclear to what extent the development of transportation infrastructure may have influenced the formation of shrinking cities, especially considering a multi-dimensional structural change. This study fills this research gap by conducting a comprehensive impact assessment of transportation infrastructure on the development of shrinking cities in China, considering demographic, economic, and social changes. Based on the New Economic Geography theory, a novel multi-dimensional shrinking index system was developed and the characteristics of spatial distributions of different types of shrinking cities were analyzed using the GIS analysis. In particular, the impacts of two primary surface transportation modes (roadway and high-speed rail) on shrinking cities' performance were examined using a two-stage least-square model and a Difference-in-Difference model. The results confirm that both the development of roadway and high-speed rail systems have exacerbated the loss of critical factors, such as permanent population, in most shrinking cities, although the degree of impact varies by the different modes and dimensions of shrinkage. Specifically, transportation infrastructure mainly intensifies the losses of economic and social factors in shrinking cities, while the impact on demographic loss is negligible. The research findings suggest that future infrastructure investment and the strategies for urban governance should be implemented more selectively based on the different types of shrinking cities to achieve more sustainable and resilient urban development. • The study provides an impact assessment of transportation infrastructure on shrinking cities in China. • A novel multi-dimensional shrinking index system was developed. • The impacts of roadways and high-speed rail on shrinking cities' performance were examined. • The results confirm that the transportation development exacerbated factor outflow from shrinking cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-speed rail has an important impact on the location choices of enterprises and the labor force, which is reflected in a complex space–time process. Previous studies have been unable to show the change characteristics between enterprises and the labor force at the county level. Therefore, based on the new economic geography theory, we first constructed a theoretical analysis framework to explore high-speed railway's impact on county economy development and then obtained the two economic subdivision factors' impacts: industrial enterprises and secondary labor force. Then, based on the panel data of 1791 county units in China from 2003 to 2019, the study constructed a multi-period PSM-DID model to empirically explore high-speed rail's impact on the county's agglomeration of industrial enterprises and secondary labor force. The results show that high-speed rail has a long-term negative effect on the county area's agglomeration of industrial enterprises. From the perspective of the labor force, high-speed rail has a long-term and continuous positive effect on the agglomeration of the secondary labor force in county units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore advantageous trade arrangements for a small open economy. To discover the arrangement, the fundamental question to ask is how trade affects a small economy. Due to the differential factor mobility, the two main streams of trade theory—new economic geography and comparative advantage—make divergent predictions of trade effects. This study identifies the differences in factor mobility and distinguishes the differential impacts of exports to China and other countries on Taiwan's manufacturing clusters. Using Taiwan's 2006 and 2011 census data and trade statistics, this study applies the two-stage least squares method to test the differential impacts. The findings reveal that the growth in Taiwan's exports to other countries significantly increased the employment level of manufacturing clusters in Taiwan. However, such effects have not been found for exports to China. The lack of response in Taiwan's local employment to exports to China can be inferred as a short-term exhibition of the long-run core-periphery effect. The policy implication of this study is that trade involving low factor mobility is more beneficial than that involving high factor mobility for a small open economy. Thus, for a small economy, trade liberalization that will 'not' attract large factor outflows from the small economy is more desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigates the role of the tier‐one cities of China in affecting regional disparities within and across its five mega‐city clusters, through the lens of housing market. For that purpose, an equilibrating ripple effect is differentiated from a disturbing information cascade effect. Evidence suggests that a modest slow‐moving equilibrating force originated from Hong Kong has flowed across all tier‐one and most tier‐two cities in the mainland, indicating a narrowing of regional inequalities between Hong Kong and the mainland cities. On the other hand, a powerful disturbing force emanated from Beijing has affected all other cities, widening the inequality gap in between. The impulse response functions further suggest that this disturbing force has a permanent impact on regional disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tourism Tribune / Lvyou Xuekan is the property of Tourism Institute of Beijing Union University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article investigates the geography of the fintech industry in China's cities, which has not been systematically studied. It contributes to the literature on fintech by applying a new theoretical perspective—evolutionary economic geography. Improving on the existing literature on fintech that conducts a relatively general analysis of the role of technology in fintech development, evolutionary economic geography offers a detailed analysis that zooms in on the specific kinds of technology that determine fintech development. Moreover, this article contributes to the literature on evolutionary economic geography by systematically examining the role of market demand in developing a new industry. Based on a unique data set from 2003 to 2019, this article provides a city‐level analysis of the fintech industry in China. The results show that the fintech industry tends to develop in cities that have accumulated technologies in the fields of finance, e‐commerce, data sciences, and security. Moreover, there is a positive relationship between the development of the fintech industry and the demand for fintech services. Finally, this paper sheds light on the role of a favorable regulatory environment in fintech development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing an ecological–agricultural innovation system (EAIS) and exploring its evolution patterns are effective ways to overcome the current bottleneck in the world's agricultural development, which is also an important area of concern for economic geography scholars. Based on innovation system and agricultural innovation system (AIS) theories and relevant research literature, this study constructed an analytical framework for the evolution of the EAIS and analyses the characteristics and mechanisms of the EAIS evolution at three levels. With the help of in-depth research data on the ecological agriculture of Chongming's eco-island, this study analysed the structural composition, evolutionary paths, and mechanisms of Chongming's ecological–agricultural innovation system (EAIS). The main findings are that the evolutionary structure of the EAIS can be divided into three levels. At the micro level, ecological–agricultural producers and operators are continuously spun off along with the expansion of industry scale under the role of market orientation, technology promotion, and regulatory management. At the meso level, all actors actively seek specialised associations to obtain innovation resources, forming an innovation network. At the macro level, ecological–agricultural regulatory actors incorporate all actors into the ecological regulatory system so that the evolutionary path of the EAIS can be regulated for cleaner production. EAIS is the evolution of innovation systems in synergy between the three levels of 'actor' + 'network' + 'institution'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international economic effects of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have received much attention, but few studies have focused on the impact of the BRI on domestic regional income disparities. Here, a theoretical framework is proposed based on the logic of public policy analysis in economic geography aiming at studying the impact of the BRI on the convergence of inter-city income disparities in China. Specifically, taking the BRI as a quasi-natural experiment, the impact of the BRI on the convergence of inter-city income disparities in 26 provinces of China is studied empirically using the difference-in-differences method. We find that the BRI has indeed contributed to the convergence of regional income disparities, and this convergence effect is continuously dynamic in its nature. The effects of trade opening and industrial structure transformation are the paths through which the BRI contributes to the convergence of income disparities. Furthermore, we find that there is significant heterogeneity in the effects of the BRI on the convergence of income disparities among cities in different provinces in China. The convergence effect of the BRI on the income disparities among cities in East China is small and insignificant, whereas it can significantly reduce the income disparities among cities in Central and West China. The research in this article has important application value for exploration of the regional income distribution effect of the BRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor land use remains a major threat to ecological security. Land ecological security early warning and simulation of land‐use patterns based on the 'anti‐planning' theory provide many research bases for maintaining land ecological security. However, their utility with respect to illegal development and construction is limited. This study defines the concept of early warning based regional land‐use ecological security and builds a framework system for it. A case‐study investigation was carried out using land use, natural geography and social and economic basic data in Xingguo County, Jiangxi Province, China. The ecological red line zone (a sustainable ecological infrastructure for regional development similar to the municipal infrastructure) of the case area was 1816.16 km2, accounting for 56.49% of the total area; the core zone was 138.23 km2, accounting for 4.30% of the total area. For the natural development scenario, regional construction land pattern changes spread from the centre to the surroundings. In early warning land‐use ecological security, serious alerts were more concentrated in Lianjiang Town, Changgang Township, and Butou Township; moderate alerts were less concentrated and distributed in Longping Township and light alerts were more scattered and distributed in many townships. We propose corresponding prevention strategies for different levels of alerts. The construction of an early warning mechanism for regional land‐use ecological security can assist land spatial planning in regional development. More importantly, it can formulate land‐use ecological risk prevention strategies in advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs the agglomeration model of crossregional labor flow and market accessibility based on the new economic geography model. Using panel data in 2000-2013, this paper examines the impact of high-speed railways on industrial agglomeration. The results show that high-speed railway significantly promotes the spatial agglomeration of industrial firms. The high-speed railway promotes industrial agglomeration by promoting crossregional mobility of industrial labor and improving market accessibility. We also construct the instrument variable based on HSR construction cost and apply the TSLS model to solve the potential endogenous problems. At the same time, PSM results also get the net effect caused by the repair of a high-speed railway, which verifies the robustness of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the integration of the human-environment system has been an important part of Chinese human geography for over a century, constituting the distinctive academic nature of the field. Human geography has been established as an interdiscipline of natural science and social science, highlighting the combination of academic inquiry and decision application, and exploring the interaction mechanisms and sustainable development model between the human sphere and natural sphere at different spatial scales. The development of the discipline is in line with the basic concepts advocated by the global research platform "Future Earth", which has promoted the strong development of human geography in China, and has produced important societal influences. By selecting some of the most influential academic achievements, this paper briefly describes theoretical methods and social contributions to reflect the development process of human geography in the study of integrated human and environment systems in different stages in China. It also demonstrates the influence of the following elements on the adherence of Chinese human geography to the integration of human and environment systems: classical Chinese philosophical thinking on harmony between people and land, western theories of the human-environment relationship, Soviet economic geography research methods, the science of sustainability, the social demands of the construction of contemporary Chinese ecological civilization, ever-improving mathematical models and big data methods for studying enormous and complex systems, and management system reform and special scientific research system and background in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is an important factor affecting the quality and sustainability of the development of China's economy, and urban sprawl is also a typical by-product of the non-intensive development of urban land. At the same time, Chinese-style fiscal decentralization promotes urban sprawl through top-down yardstick competition, which has a serious impact on air pollution. Therefore, exploring the effect of fiscal decentralization and urban sprawl on air pollution is of great significance for regulating local government behavior, curbing urban sprawl, and accurately identifying the causes of air pollution. The dynamic spatial Durbin model with economic geography weight matrix is employed to analyze the direct and moderating effects of fiscal decentralization and urban sprawl on air pollution on the basis of 269 prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2018. The results show that air pollution has a significant retarded time effect and space spillover effect. Both fiscal decentralization and urban sprawl have contributed significantly to air pollution. The moderating effect of urban sprawl and fiscal decentralization on air pollution is significantly positive. From the short-term effects, the coefficients of the total spillover effect, direct spillover effect, and indirect spillover effect of urban sprawl and fiscal decentralization on air pollution are significantly positive, respectively. In terms of long-term effects, the total spatial spillover effect of urban sprawl and fiscal decentralization on air pollution is significantly negative, while the direct and indirect effects of those are negative but not significant. Further research finds that there is significant regional heterogeneity in the influence of urban sprawl and fiscal decentralization on air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability transitions of latecomer cities are of great significance for achieving the carbon neutrality goal in China and globally, but it remains an underexplored research topic. Latecomer cities have economic rationales and latecomer advantages to ad⁃ vance sustainability transitions, but they usually lack endogenous capacities to realise green path creation. The green shift of the global tech-economic paradigm is opening green institutional, market, and technological windows of opportunity (GWOs) for sustainability tran⁃ sitions in latecomer cities. This paper proposes a 'GWO-Industry Characteristics-Actor Strategies' analytical framework to depict the key elements, actors, and processes of sustainability transitions in latecomer cities and suggests future research avenues. Due to late⁃ comer advantages and lower regime lock-in, latecomer cities may bypass high-carbon development pathways by responding positively to GWOs. Different green industries have different spatial characteristics in technological innovation and value realization, and latecomer cities should adopt suitable resource coupling strategies to endogenize GWOs. Local governments and enterprises can also act as institu⁃ tional entrepreneurs to create a suitable institutional environment to promote green industries. Therefore, the main contribution of this study is to apply the theory of industrial catch-up to the sustainability transitions at the city level and to unravel the impact of GWOs and local actors on the basis of considering the characteristics of industrial innovation systems, highlighting the spatial attributes of GWOs and the role of local governments and green firms in coupling innovation resources and shaping the institutional environment in emerging green industries. This research thus makes up for the insufficiency of economic geography research which overemphasizes structure and ignores human agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The determinants of industrial agglomeration have attracted worldwide attention as a research topic since the 1990s; however, there is still some divergence of opinion on the relationship between transport infrastructure and industrial agglomeration. To reconcile these divergent views, we take highways as a typical example of transport infrastructure and undertake an empirical examination based on a sample of 1,660,551 observations of Chinese manufacturing firms covering the period 1998 to 2007. The findings confirm that highway improvement has a positive impact on industrial agglomeration as a whole. We also find that the impact is heterogeneous across industry groups: improvement in the highway network positively affects the agglomeration of non-locally based industries and relationship industries but negatively affects the agglomeration of locally based industries and non-relationship industries. • This study provides empirical evidence supporting the positive impact of infrastructure improvement on industrial agglomeration as a whole. • This study found that transport infrastructure improvement has heterogenerous impact on different industries positively affects the agglomeration of non-locally based industries and relationship industries but negatively affects the agglomeration of locally based industries and non-relationship industries. • This study discusses the mechanism of agglomeration and dispersion forces and deepens the understanding of 'new economic geography.'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a responsible country, China should take on heavy responsibility of energy conservation and emission reduction, and it is an inevitable choice for China to develop high-tech industries and improve the innovation efficiency of high-tech industries in order to alleviate the current environmental pressure. Therefore, this paper takes the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2016 as the research sample, on the basis of using DEA Global-Malmquist index to measure the innovation efficiency of high-tech industries, it constructs three spatial weight matrices, by including spatial geography, spatial economic geography nesting and innovation, and then it uses Spatial Durbin Model to empirically analyze the effect of innovation efficiency of high-tech industry on CO2 emissions in China from spatial perspective. The results indicate: firstly, in China, CO2 emissions gradually increase from 2006 to 2012, however, some provinces have declined after 2012. And CO2 emissions present a descending trend from eastern coastal area to central and western region. Secondly, affected by "warning effect", CO2 emissions show a significant negative spatial spillover effect. Thirdly, the overall level of innovation efficiency of high-tech industries in China is not high, and its impact on CO2 emissions is not a simple linear relationship, but shows an "inverted N–shaped" curvilinear relation, and its decomposition index EC and TC also have similar characteristics. Obviously, the research in this paper provides a necessary theoretical support for China and some emerging developing countries to rational formulating and effective implementing the energy conservation and emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapidly urbanizing global south has witnessed drastic changes in rural transformation in which industrial dynamics have played a fundamental role. However, research on rural industrial geography and its influencing factors is limited compared with its urban counterpart. The spatial pattern of rural industry in an ordinary county in China—Xintai—is examined by adopting a multi-level approach. The underlying factors are then explored by situating it into a hybrid historical and geographical process of economy, institution, and society. Results show that: (1) The process of rural industrialization is hierarchically and spatially uneven across the county with the first- and second-tier industrial villages clustering around the central city and along two main roads exhibiting a general pattern of 'one core and two bands'. (2) Despite the overall pattern of concentration, rural industry exhibits a polycentric and dispersed distribution at the county and township levels. (3) The resources have continued to play a pivotal role in shaping the current industrial geography of this formerly resource-dependent county, followed by market accessibility, role of government, social capital, and the within-township industrial distribution. This research demonstrates the importance of the multi-level perspective in recognizing and understanding rural industrial geography and reveals its differences in urban and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of high-speed rails on analyst earnings forecasts in Chinese context. The results based on a difference-in-difference design show that the introduction of high-speed rail improves analyst earnings forecast accuracy. The positive association is stronger for firms located in regions with less developed institutional environments, firms with fewer intangible assets, and firms located farther away from information centers. In addition, high-speed rails increase analysts' likelihood and frequency of site visits. Overall, we extend the literature on economic geography and financial analysts, and shed lights on how transportation infrastructure facilitates information exchange in capital markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the trade frictions between wealthy and impoverished regions into the New Economic Geography model. We argue that to reconcile bilateral trade volumes and price data within a standard gravity model, the trade frictions between regions must be systematically asymmetric, with poor regions facing higher costs to export relative to affluent regions. We construct the corresponding econometric model based on the theoretical formulation, and the results show that the asymmetry of trade costs has a significant impact on regional market access and wages. We then argue that these trade frictions are quantitatively crucial and without the asymmetry of trade costs, the standard deviation of market access among Chinese provinces would decline by 13.9%, while that of relative wages would decline by 16.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HSR studies have been one of the most important issues in economic geography, transport economics and policy. However, prior studies give rare attention to its role on the technological innovation collaboration, which become increasing important nowadays. Using co-patent data of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) database from 2000 to 2016, this paper investigates the role of HSR services in cross-city technological innovation collaboration. Empirical results show: 1) the intensity of cross-city technological innovation collaboration activities remains at a low level before the debut of HSR services in China, and the difference on this indicator between cities with and without HSR services is statistically insignificant. With the emergence of HSR network, cross-city innovation collaboration is booming and cities with and without HSR services show distinct trends. 2) HSR services play a significant positive role in stimulating the intensity of cross-city technological innovation collaboration activities of HSR cities. 3) megacities benefit most from the HSR network, and secondary cities also benefit from being connected to megacities by HSR lines. 4) The travel time between city pairs is significantly correlated with the intensity of collaborative innovation activities. Our results suggesting interregional innovation bonds, which implicitly featuring the channel of knowledge flow, are established or strengthened by high-speed transport investments. • We find that HSR services play a significant positive role in stimulating the intensity of cross-city technological innovation collaboration activities of HSR cities. • Megacities benefit most from the HSR network, and secondary cities also benefit from being connected to megacities by HSR lines. • The travel time between city pairs is significantly correlated with the intensity of collaborative innovation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do capabilities reside in firms, in regions, or in both? Within economic geography, most contemporary research on diversification examines how local structures condition regional development possibilities. The underlying logic is that capabilities are generated within regions and sometimes shared between them. We challenge that logic, exploring whether capabilities are more likely to emerge within the firm and to flow across spatial boundaries than they are to be built within the region flowing across firm boundaries. Analysis focuses on technological diversification within the establishments of multilocational firms operating across Chinese cities. Overall, the results demonstrate that the knowledge structure of firms is more important than the knowledge structure of cities in shaping diversification within establishments. We show that rates of technological diversification vary according to plant status (headquarters or not), location (core or peripheral city), and on whether plants are introducing more or less complex knowledge. The influence of plant, firm, and regional characteristics on diversification vary markedly across the analytical samples examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive development of China's high-speed rail (HSR) network has resulted in unprecedented improvement in spatial accessibility. This paper uses the Yangtze River delta (YRD), one of the most populous and developed mega-regions in China, as a case study to examine the spatial impacts of the HSR network development. It uses official train timetables to employ a weighted measurement, including rail travel time and train service frequency, to assess the changing network accessibility and connectivity at the multi-scale of provincial, regional and urban between April 2007 (pre-HSR) and October 2016 (16 HSR lines). The study finds that the introduction of the HSR network has enhanced, rather than comprehensively restructured, already-existing uneven patterns of accessibility and connectivity. Developed cities have benefited more from increases in connectivity, while the less-developed peripheral cities have experienced greater accessibility gains, which are, in part, the results of the YRD's persistent pattern of economic geographies. The research advances understanding of the impacts of HSR development in the mega-regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Path transplantation, as an essential type of path creation, brings in external knowledge, technology, skilled individuals, and foreign capital, which enables developing regions to catch up with more developed ones through leap‐forward development. However, most economic geography studies have focused on path branching and diversification of new industries, which are more common in developed regions. This study adjusts the canonical four‐phase framework based on previous studies to analyse the impact of various forces on path transplantation phase by phase. Two main types of forces, "soil conditions" and "irrigation measures," jointly impact the evolutionary path of transplantation. Their influences vary in different phases. Irrigation measures help in attracting new industry and increasing efficiency of transplantation. However, as new industry grows up and moves to the maturation phase, the impact of irrigation is limited due to increasing rigidification, and soil conditions, especially technological relatedness and innovation, play more important roles. Thus, the best time to intervene is in the embryo and rooting phases and the impacts will be increasingly positive through reinforcement in the irreversible trajectory. This framework is employed to analyse the development of the photovoltaic industry in China. The empirical results prove the importance of irrigation measures, especially government support in the early stages. This provides regions with an opportunity to strategically intervene in path transplantation and promote new industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of institutions in regional industrial dynamics has been a long‐lasting issue in economic geography and regional studies. This paper seeks to examine this issue in the context of transitional economies, where the market economy is embryonic, by using China as an example. Specifically, we examine how regional industrial dynamics have been shaped by China's peculiar institutional context in general and by its new round of economic reform in particular. One key part of the new reform is the establishment of administrative approval centers (AACs) to streamline official procedures that regulate business start‐ups and existing business. Empirical results show that the establishment of AACs has boosted new industry creations. However, in the first 3 years after the establishment of AACs, the effect of AACs on new industry creation is not evident and becomes significant afterwards. Furthermore, the effect varies across regions and industries. It is especially evident in less marketized cities. Labor‐intensive industries benefit more from the establishment of AACs than do capital‐intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper empirically examines Indian investment in China and its spatial distribution across 17 Chinese provinces during 2005–2015. Indian investments in China have spread across heterogeneous provinces. The location of ventures has been shaped by several provincial characteristics and locational advantages that include infrastructural facilities, lower wages, markets and openness; economic geography forces that include agglomeration of foreign and private firms and policies and engagements of the local governments. As such multiple determinants of location choice can be observed, which provide insights into the locational determinants of firms from one emerging country in another. Chinese inland provinces trying to attract Indian investment need to focus on developing locational advantages at par with the coastal regions and on economic geography. However, the scale of operation of Indian companies in China remains smaller due to several China-specific challenges. Industrial bodies and investment promotion agencies may aid in building firm-capacity to deal with China-specific challenges, with adequate emphasis on the spatial characteristics of provinces, to overcome business challenges. The increase in Indian investment in China shall be beneficial provided the firms and their activities generate complementarity in the bilateral economic relationship between the two countries and in the product and factor markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temporal and geographic varieties of entrepreneurial urban governance have sparked considerable debate. A key research gap that remains unfilled is the role of national states in the transition of urban governance from a singular logic of growth. This paper attempts to reveal how the national state and its top-down territorial logic shape this transition in China. Based on a theoretical engagement between political and economic geographers' approaches to city-regional development, we conceptualise a 'central-local state strategic coupling' between national geopolitical goals and local entrepreneurial strategies. We argue that municipalities endeavour to plug their city-regions into national geopolitical strategies to unlock the resources (e.g., land and financial capital) necessary for the implementation of local entrepreneurial strategies. The central state strategically selects certain city-regions to develop by privileging their municipalities' access to key resources to facilitate local entrepreneurial strategies. Thus, the central state aligns city-regional development/transformation to its geopolitical goals/strategies in a subtle and depoliticised manner. We substantiate this argument by taking local economic space production as a lens, with a comparative analysis of the emerging urban entrepreneurial/economic space production strategies in three Chinese inland cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolutionary economic geography literature explores the patterns of regional product evolution from the perspective of supply-side relatedness, leaving behind the role of demand-side relatedness. Using China's international trade data, this paper measures product-scale market relatedness and explores the impact of market relatedness on two-fold export dynamics, that is the entry of new products and the opening of new overseas markets. Our results show that the entry of new products may be driven by two kinds of power (supply-side relatedness and demand-side relatedness) at the same time. New products with strong market relatedness to locally-available products are more likely to enter the city's production network. However, strong market relatedness between products may result in path locking in overseas market expansion. In terms of mechanisms, product entry and overseas market exploitation are conditioned by the degree of the city's market competition and external demand, respectively. • Enrich the understanding of product relatedness from the perspective of demand-side, proposing the concept of market relatedness. • Construct the measuring method of market relatedness by drawing on the probability co-occurrence method. • Market relatedness may have both positive and negative impact on product dynamics. Specifically, market relatedness will promote the locally entry of new products, but hinder the development of new overseas markets. Market competition and external demand play moderating roles between market relatedness and product dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection of geographic concentration of economic activities at different spatial scales has long been of interest to researchers from spatial economics, regional science and economic geography. Using a unique dataset from the first industrial land use survey of its kind in China, this research is the first effort attempting to explore spatial distribution particularly geographic concentration of industries in China using firm-level data. Distance-based functions and spatial cluster analysis are employed to detect the spatial scales as well as the geographic locations of industrial concentration. The results indicate that four of the five selected industries are in general concentrated in southern Jiangsu at small spatial scales (less than 5 km), while the chemical industry demonstrates an overall spatial dispersion pattern relative to the distribution of all other industries. Most industrial clusters have a radius of less than 2.5 km containing 20–60% of enterprises and 60–86% of employees from each selected industry, with larger clusters showing relatively weaker concentration. This research demonstrates the connections and complementarity of different approaches, complementing previous studies that use distance-based functions with spatial scan statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]