国家城乡融合发展试验区建设对城乡发展差距的影响

Abstract

Establishing sound institutions and policy systems for urban-rural integration is of great significance for breaking the urban-rural dual structure and building a new type of urban-rural relationship. Using county-level panel data and town-level nighttime light data, this paper employs a difference-in-differences model to investigate whether the construction of national urban-rural integration pilot zones promotes common prosperity between urban and rural areas by strengthening factor mobility. The study finds that the construction of national urban-rural integration pilot zones helps narrow the urban-rural development gap within counties, specifically manifested as a reduction of approximately 5.02% in the ratio of urban to rural nighttime light brightness within pilot zones compared with non-pilot areas. In addition, household registration system reform can strengthen this effect. Structurally, the construction of national urban-rural integration pilot zones promotes the economic development of rural areas without restraining the development of urban areas, thereby contributing to common prosperity between urban and rural areas. Mechanism tests indicate that, on the one hand, the pilot zones alleviate the 'financial repression' problem in rural areas by strengthening financial supply and improving mortgage guarantee systems; on the other hand, they weaken local governments' urban-biased resource allocation strategy, effectively promoting the supply of public service factors in rural areas, thus narrowing the urban-rural development gap. Heterogeneity analysis results show that the suppressing effect of the pilot zones on the urban-rural development gap is more significant in regions with weaker fiscal self-sufficiency. The conclusions not only confirm the positive role of the pilot zones in promoting urban-rural common prosperity but also provide an important theoretical basis and decision-making reference for further reshaping a new pattern of urban-rural development through improving urban-rural integration institutions and mechanisms.