Territorial unbalances in the Chinese industrialization process

The debate on industrial development policies has in recent years moved to "how" governments should intervene and what goals to pursue, rather than "if" they should be pursued. Government intervention is often driven by goals that fall into three broad categories: solving market failures, promoting strategic objectives, and reaching meta-economic objectives such as access to knowledge, education, and health care an equal distribution of wealth, sustainable social and environmental development. Chinese territory is studied as an example of industrialization and economic growth promoted through meticulous planning and targeted industrial policies justified by strategic goals. However, over time, critical issues related to the spatial distribution of the industrialization have emerged, thus threatening the sustainability of economic growth. The aim of this work is to analyze the distribution of economic performances in China, at several administrative levels. The analysis is carried out using statistical permutation tests. Starting from the national level, territorial unbalances were analyzed in terms of economic performance in the period 1998-2010. Economic performance is measured using a composite index that includes five variables (GDP per capita, employment, density of enterprises, exports, and industrial output). In the second phase, the study proceeds with the territorial analysis in Guangdong province, emblematic case of the Chinese industrialization, using data at county-district level. At this stage territorial unbalances are analyzed not only with respect to economic performances, but also with respect to the intensity of policy interventions (the variables used are specialized towns, development zones, innovation centers, ratio of revenues over expenditure of the local government, and investments in innovation). Finally, the last part of the work is focused on the case of Dongguan, a prefecture located in the heart of Guangdong’s industrial area. Here, territorial analysis is carried out at the town level and with respect to economic performance. The analysis returns the picture of a country marked by strong regional unbalances. Guangdong, which is one of the most industrialized provinces of China, shows a marked dualism between core and periphery, and unbalances among different areas not only in terms of performances but also in terms of intensity of policies. Nevertheless, Dongguan does not show unbalances in terms of performances and seems, on the contrary, uniformly industrialized.