Abstract:
This dissertation empirically tests the impacts of telecommunications infrastructure as well as
its spillover effects on regional economic growth in China. Based on data for 29 regions of
China for the period 1986-2006, a panel data approach is used in the context of conditional
convergence theory for estimation. A modified shift-share analytical framework is used to
decompose regional economic output changes by labor and capital factor inputs. With
appropriate controls for heteroscedasticity and spatial autocorrelation, the research findings
of this dissertation include: 1) that for total regional economic growth, telecommunications
infrastructure has significant negative impacts, implying the possibility of “investment
congestion” in the telecommunications sector in China’s regions during the examined period;
2) that for regional economic growth due to capital factors, telecommunications
infrastructure has significant and positive impacts, indicating a positive relationship between
this key input and regional output growth; 3) that negative and significant spillover effects of
telecommunications infrastructure are identified for total regional economic growth, whereas
the spillovers have positive influences on regional growth due to capital factors only; 4)
conditional convergence has been occurring among China’s regions, providing further
evidence to the conditional convergence literature.
