The Role of China's High-Tech Zones in Its Regional Economic Development

National high-tech industrial development zones represent a major strategy of the Chinese government in developing high-tech industries and spurring regional economic growth. The effect of this policy is yet to be proven. Based on the panel data of 283 Chinese cities between 1984 and 2012, this paper investigates the effect of high-tech zones on regional economic development. Empirical results suggest that first, national hightech zones have remarkably enhanced regional GDP and per capita GDP growth, and this conclusion still holds true after multiple rounds of robustness test; second, the economic effect of national high-tech zones is subject to diminishing marginal return and compared with higher-tier cities, lower-tier cities benefited more from the creation of national hightech zones. This paper concludes that national high-tech zones where special policies are experimented and offered not only drive economic development but, if properly distributed across regions, may help reduce regional economic disparities as well. The results of this study provide important implications for the future distribution of national high-tech zones and the creation of other relevant policies.