From July 21 to 22, 2023, the 10th International Workshop on Regional, Urban, and Spatial Economics in China was successfully held at Peking University. This conference was organized by the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Peking University and the Center for Urban Development and Land Policy Research at Peking University-Lincoln Institute, attracting widespread attention from the international academic community. Over a hundred scholars from countries including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Pakistan participated.

The main venue featured 5 plenary presentations, while the sub-venues held a total of 59 presentations. The presentations cover disciplines such as geography, economics, and management, with topics including environment, housing, transportation, and land. This conference aims to raise global awareness of regional, urban, and spatial issues, especially in China, and to strengthen the global research network focused on China.

Professor He Canfei, Dean of the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Peking University, delivered the opening speech. Professor He first expressed his excitement at meeting all the guests after the COVID-19 pandemic and thanked all parties for their concern and support for the conference. He then briefly introduced the venue setup and recent developments of the school, and finally called on all attendees to actively discuss and share the academic feast, contributing to research in China's regional, urban, and spatial economics. Professor Liu Zhi, Director of the Urban Development and Land Policy Research Center at Peking University-Lincoln Institute, also delivered a brief speech. Mr. Liu once again clarified the goals of this meeting, encouraged all attendees to engage in in-depth exchanges, and wished the conference great success. The opening ceremony of the conference was hosted by Professor Zhu Shengjun from the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Peking University.

The first half of the conference report was chaired by Professor Liu Zhi, Director of the Urban Development and Land Policy Research Center at Peking University-Lincoln Institute.

Professor Andrés Rodríguez-Pose from the London School of Economics and Political Science delivered a keynote report titled "The geography of discontent and the regional development trap in Europe." This study focuses on EU member states, focusing on the role of regional development traps in the rise of Euroscepticism. The study found that development traps are closely linked to support rates for Eurosceptic parties, meaning that dissatisfaction caused by regional development traps adversely affects European integration, and this relationship is not limited to a single election cycle. Moreover, economic growth is slower than neighboring regions, other parts of Europe, and past regions within the region, and there is greater trust in Euroscepticism.

Keynote report by Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, London School of Economics

Professor John I. Carruthers from Cornell University delivered a keynote report titled "Tracking the Peacocks: A Gravity Analysis of the Chinese Migration System, 1990–2020." This study aims to analyze the population migration dynamics in China over the past thirty years and explore the role of the household registration system in promoting balanced regional development. Research has found that the direction of population movement in China has shifted from one-way to multi-directional. Population growth in the eastern coastal provinces, while population declines in the central provinces. Since the 2000s, the role of the household registration system in population migration has diminished.

Keynote report by Professor John I. Carruthers of Cornell University

Session 1 was the first presentation under the theme of "Environment," chaired by Dr. Li Jie from Capital University of Economics and Business. The conference featured three speeches on topics such as environmental regulation, green energy efficiency, and capital reallocation. Li Jie explored the cascading effect of environmental regulations by upstream regulated enterprises on downstream companies' import procurement decisions in local supply chains. Based on panel data from 285 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2017, Feng Yidai examined the impact and mechanisms of new urbanization policies on green energy efficiency. Huang Qilin used urban investment data to study the impact of water pollution regulation on capital reallocation.

Session 6 was the second presentation under the theme of "Environment," chaired by Dr. Li Jie from Capital University of Economics and Business. Dr. Pang Jindong from Wuhan University used government subsidies for trams as an instrumental variable to study the impact of the number of trams on air pollution, and explored the pollution redistribution effect caused by trams based on the location of coal power plants. Dr. Li Tianshu from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University further analyzed changes in water resource utilization efficiency caused by China's water rights trading by examining the impact of water rights transactions on buyers and sellers.

Session 11 was the third presentation under the theme "Environment," chaired by Dr. Pin Sun from Pennsylvania State University. This session featured five presentations, focusing on themes such as willingness to tackle pollution, climate change, water pollution, environmental management, and health adaptation. Specifically, Wen Chenfei focused on how the willingness of Chinese local governments to control pollution affects the size and distribution of cities; Sun Pin focuses on the impact of Hurricane Katrina on U.S. climate change migration; Based on the rationalization hypothesis, Song Tao analyzes China's water pollution reduction mechanisms; Sun Yukun explored whether and by what means governments relocate in prefecture-level cities and above in China improve air quality in relocated areas; Li Zhengtao examines how Chinese people respond to climate change both in action and mindset. Participants engaged in lively and in-depth discussions on theoretical hypotheses, variable setting, model testing, and other aspects, effectively promoting interdisciplinary knowledge exchange and improving research quality.

Breakout Session 2 was the first presentation under the theme of "Housing," where four guests and other audience members engaged in lively discussions on housing and real estate from diverse perspectives. Professor Zhao Daxuan from Renmin University of China focuses on the phenomenon of "tax avoidance" among buyers and sellers in real estate, and analyzes its impact on the real estate market. Professor Duan Kun from Huazhong University of Science and Technology discussed issues related to real estate bubbles, dividing them into reasonable and naive types, and discussed how monetary policy can have heterogeneous effects on them. Professor Jamal Khan from Shandong University explored the profound role of the real estate sector in China's economic structural dynamics based on detailed input-output data. Professor Tai Chee Tsui from Beijing Normal University–Hong Kong Baptist University United International College focused on the relatively novel topic of idle property tax, arguing that this tax should be imposed on real estate developers rather than individual property owners. During the Q&A and discussion sessions, scholars engaged in lively discussions on topics such as real estate and housing policy design, market expectations, and data collection and processing for research.

Session 7 was the second presentation under the theme of "Housing," hosted by Professor Wang Ziyou from the University of Reading. The four speakers focused on spatial perspectives, discussing topics such as real estate clusters and mismatched housing spaces; On the other hand, it also pays attention to the behavioral logic of housing stakeholders, conducting in-depth analyses of consumer sentiment and speculative behavior in real estate. Professor Wang Ziyou studied the role of emotions in long-term family housing choices and attempted to integrate emotional factors into life cycle models, enriching the theoretical framework for housing needs research. Marina Glushenkova from the University of Nottingham Ningbo focuses on regional integration in China's real estate market. Her research found that office prices in major Chinese cities (excluding Shenzhen) are highly similar, while residential prices are highly differentiated, with significant differences in market segmentation depending on property type. Professor Zhu Tianyun from Jinan University, with the theme "Steering and Spatial Mismatch," creatively focused on the relationship between housing spatial mismatch and unemployment. The results showed that real estate agents tend to recommend housing with fewer job opportunities to ethnic minorities. Finally, Dr. Wang Yichu from Tsinghua University presented on real estate speculation and entrepreneurial behavior, studying and using rigorous quantitative methods to eliminate endogenous factors, and ultimately concluded that speculative behavior triggered by the real estate market boom has a negative impact on entrepreneurial spirit.

Session 12 was the third presentation under the theme of "Housing," exploring issues related to housing such as price discrimination, family budgets, and rental yields. The session was hosted by Professor Nico Heernink from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, with three other speakers: Chen Cheng from Nanjing Audit University, Yang Guoyang from the University of Cincinnati, and Zhang Tianzheng from Beijing Forestry University. Teacher Nico Heernink focuses on the price differences among immigrants in the Dutch property market, exploring whether price discrimination exists within communities and between communities—that is, whether immigrants have to pay a premium when purchasing the same home, and whether the composition of immigrants in surrounding communities affects local housing prices. Chen Cheng regarded changes in housing prices as a proxy variable for household budget shocks, exploring the trade-off between children's education and the number of children in developed countries. The results showed that in regions with different rates of housing price growth, the impact of the number of children on children's education varies. Yang Guoyang studied the price spillover effect of low-income housing and found that low-income housing reduces the value of homes in upscale communities, but after controlling housing density, the price effect is greatly diminished. Based on Beijing housing transaction data, Zhang Tianzheng explored the factors influencing rental return rates and summarized them from three aspects: physical, social, and locational attributes of housing.

Sub-venue 3 was the first lecture under the theme of "Transportation," chaired by Professor Peng Cong from the National School of Development at Peking University. Four faculty and students engaged in in-depth discussions on "transportation." Professor Peng first explored the economic and environmental impact of roads in underdeveloped countries (taking Zambia as an example), demonstrating how to use artificial intelligence and high-resolution satellite imagery to observe road conditions from outer space, making them universal. Professor Sun Yajie and her team from Nanjing Audit University used the Child Trafficking database to study how highways affect child trafficking in China, finding that public infrastructure provides a breeding ground for crime and believes that strengthening routine inspections at transportation hubs, especially highway toll stations, can help prevent child trafficking. Professor Lu Jiaxuan from Harvard University proposed a quantitative model analysis framework based on a typical city's radial metro network to explain the rapid development of Shenzhen's metro system in China. Finally, Professor Yang Yujing from the University of Birmingham used spatial econometrics to explore the role of transport infrastructure and freight services in interprovincial industrial productivity. The study found that both railways and highways have spillover effects on developed regions, but the promoting effect of railways is even more pronounced in developing provinces. The participants engaged in lively discussions, offering in-depth insights into academic development in this field through their suggestions.

Sub-session 8 was the second presentation under the theme of "Transportation," where participants engaged in in-depth discussions on the impact of transportation infrastructure on local and regional development from various perspectives. The sub-session was chaired by Professor Shi Huimin from Renmin University. Professor Shi Huimin's team first explored the impact of face-to-face exchanges on international trade, using the pandemic as a reference and finding that offline relationship capital will help build more resilient trade interactions; Professor Li Lei and her team from Tsinghua University studied the impact of high-speed rail on enterprise pollution emissions, finding that as an important medium and channel for knowledge spillover between different cities, high-speed rail can effectively promote innovation in emission reduction by enterprises, thereby achieving emission reduction effects; Professor Zheng Liang from Central University of Finance and Economics examined the impact of China's trunk expressway extensions on manufacturing entry, finding that new companies in the same industry are suppressed while cross-industry companies are encouraged to enter; Finally, Professor Cao Siwei from Beijing Normal University shared his team's views on the impact of the opening of the China-Europe Railway Express on the development of late-developing inland regions. After examining the phenomenon of labor, capital, and production factors shifting inland after the train's opening, Professor Cao's team believes that the reduction in trade costs is the main driving force. The participants engaged in lively discussions, offering suggestions and suggestions, and deeply exploring academic development trends in the field, sharing their views and feelings.

Sub-session 4 discussed research topics related to land, housing, and urban development, chaired by Professor Xiao Wei from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. Professor Xiao Wei's research explores how the "county-to-city" policy affects industrial land prices. Teacher Zhao Ya explored whether the central government's anti-corruption campaign (taking the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection's inspections as an example) has affected the auction prices of residential land. Professor Tang Yugang's research explores the impact of tax incentives on urban land allocation from the perspective of government behavior. Professor Li Meng from Hunan University explored the determinants of the spatial distribution of income and housing within cities, as well as strategies for responding to the city's internal structure and the local housing market.

Sub-session 9, themed "Population Mobility," explored issues such as urban and rural migration in China, inter-provincial labor migration, and social integration of Dutch refugees. The session was chaired by Professor Zhao Minqiang from Xiamen University. Professor Zhao focused on the topic of mobility barriers under China's urban-rural structural transformation, assessed the importance of land and subsidy policies related to the household registration system, and further identified the main migration costs and drivers of structural transformation. Professor Nico Heernink from Wageningen University studies how the Magic Mix social housing project, which promotes intergroup interaction, affects the social integration of Dutch refugees. Professor Wang Jianguo from Beijing Information Science and Technology University explored the impact of urban population concentration and migration on urban living costs, including housing, commuting, and goods costs. Professor Wang Qing from Sun Yat-sen University used interprovincial bank transfer data to study the relationship between interprovincial population migration and capital flows in China.

Sub-venue 13 centered around the theme of "Gathering," with five scholars and professors presenting reports, chaired by Professor Yang Yanmin from the School of Economics at Nanjing Audit University. Teacher Yang Yanmin shared the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dynamics of the localized economy and the trend of geographic agglomeration of enterprises, as seen through Zhejiang Province data research; Professor Wang Long shared research on the impact of government-enterprise distance on China's export trade and explored the underlying mechanisms and roles; From a macroeconomic perspective, Professor Gao Xiang shared a systematic approach using a national/regional input-output framework and measuring industrial transfer from a production standpoint; Based on the flexible office model of the post-pandemic era, Professor Wu Yi shared from a micro perspective how London's coworking is located and the reasons behind it; Professor Wu Yangyi shared the role of Shanghai's urban infrastructure and agglomeration in the birth and innovation of producer service enterprises.

Sub-venue 14 centered around the theme of "Policy." As the chair of this sub-forum, Professor Hua Yue from Hunan University first introduced the presenters and reviewers. Next, he gave a report on the financial pressures and insufficient supply of public goods caused by the Western Development strategy. Afterwards, Dr. Sheng Hantian from Peking University presented research on the impact of the pandemic on regional industrial dynamics and urban economic resilience. After a brief break, Professor Zhang Min from Soochow University and Professor Li Huiping from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics each presented research reports on whether China's administrative reforms can promote export expansion and the impact of urban boundary expansion on resident satisfaction and public goods supply.