Quantitative Analysis of Regional Economic Polarization and Dynamical Mechanisms in Jiangsu Province
江苏省区域经济极化及其动力机制定量分析

This paper employs a number of recently developed economic polarization measures, on the basis of the analysis of the studies on regional economic polarization at home and abroad, and uses consistent data of gross domestic production per capita to quantitatively evaluate the variety characteristics of regional economic inequality and polarization in Jiangsu province since the economic reforms and opening up of 1978 in China for the first time. It shows that regional economic polarization increases with the widening of the regional economic difference. Using a polarization index based on inequality decompositions, we make a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the influences of the regional economic polarization in regional development policy and strategy, township industrialization and foreign direct investment from top-down, bottom-up and exterior of regional development. This paper discusses the factors that account for the changing regional inequalities and polarization in Jiangsu province and argues that the top-town driving factors are likely the most important aspects affecting regional economic polarization in Jiangsu province. Spatially, regional economic polarization in Jiangsu province shows obviously two aspects of dividing from north to south and from urban to rural.