Impact of Financial Agglomeration on Regional Economic Growth in China: A Spatial Correlation Perspective

In the contemporary world, finance is crucial to economy and financial agglomeration has a lasting effect on the economic growth. The areas of financial agglomeration will influence the economy of the local parts throughout agglomeration effect, and have an impact on its spatially related parts. Based on Chinese inter-provincial panel data from 2007 to 2018, this study constructs an indicator system of financial agglomeration and measures provincial agglomeration levels to examine its impact on regional economic growth. The results show that, first, the level of financial agglomeration has a trend of steady change and presents a ladder-decreasing agglomeration pattern. Second, financial agglomeration could effectively promote the economic growth of local and spatially related regions. The development of the financial industry depended more on geographical distance, and the diffusion effect of financial agglomeration in the eastern, central, and western regions are in different stages. Finally, by summarizing the research conclusions, this study put forward some suggestions for China’s regional economic growth.