The positive impact of urban-rural integration on consumption gap among residents in China

IF 6.6 1区经济学 Q1 URBAN STUDIES

Cities Pub Date : 2025-09-08 DOI:10.1016/j.cities.2025.106454

Bingrui Zhu , Sun Zhang , Wei Chen, Haimeng Shi, Yanan Wang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Urban-rural integration (URI) is a crucial strategy for promoting sustainable economic and social development and represents the ideal state of urban-rural relations. The urban-rural consumption gap (URCG) is a critical indicator of disparities in quality of life and access to resources between urban and rural residents. Little is known about how URI affects the material living standards of urban and rural residents. This study uses panel data from 224 prefecture-level cities in China over the period 2002 to 2022. The Geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) is applied to examine the spatially and temporally heterogeneous effects of URI on the URCG. The URCG is assessed from two dimensions: the urban-rural consumption expenditure gap (URCE) and the urban-rural Engel coefficient gap (UREC). The results indicate that the URCG narrowed from 2002 to 2022, with the URCE decreasing from 2.79 to 1.75, and the UREC increasing from 0.87 to 0.94. The average mitigating effect of URI on URCE improved as the coefficient decreased from −7.91 to −0.64. Similarly, the average mitigating effect of URI on UREC strengthened with the coefficient declining from 0.98 to −0.11. In addition, the mitigating effect of URI on URCE is most pronounced in middle-income regions, whereas its mitigating effect on UREC is strongest in high-income regions. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how URI affects urban-rural consumption inequality and offers empirical evidence from China to inform policy formulation in other developing countries.

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城乡一体化对中国居民消费差距的正向影响

城乡一体化是促进经济社会可持续发展的重要战略，代表着城乡关系的理想状态。城乡消费差距（URCG）是反映城乡居民生活质量和资源获取差异的重要指标。对于URI如何影响城乡居民的物质生活水平，我们知之甚少。本研究使用了2002年至2022年中国224个地级市的面板数据。应用地理时间加权回归（GTWR）分析了URI在时空上的异质性效应。从城乡消费支出差距（URCE）和城乡恩格尔系数差距（UREC）两个维度来评价城乡消费支出差距。结果表明：2002 - 2022年，长江上游城市综合承载力逐渐缩小，城市综合承载力从2.79下降到1.75，城市综合承载力从0.87上升到0.94；URI对URCE的平均缓解效果从- 7.91降低到- 0.64。同样，URI对UREC的平均缓解作用增强，系数从0.98下降到- 0.11。此外，URI对URCE的缓解作用在中等收入地区最为明显，而对URCE的缓解作用在高收入地区最强。本研究有助于深入了解URI如何影响城乡消费不平等，并为其他发展中国家的政策制定提供了中国的经验证据。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Cities URBAN STUDIES-

CiteScore

11.20

自引率

9.00%

发文量

517

期刊介绍： Cities offers a comprehensive range of articles on all aspects of urban policy. It provides an international and interdisciplinary platform for the exchange of ideas and information between urban planners and policy makers from national and local government, non-government organizations, academia and consultancy. The primary aims of the journal are to analyse and assess past and present urban development and management as a reflection of effective, ineffective and non-existent planning policies; and the promotion of the implementation of appropriate urban policies in both the developed and the developing world.