Opening ceremony guests: (top row, from left) He Canfei, Liu Zhi, Jin Chengwu, Ni Pengfei

The keynote speech session was hosted by Jin Chengwu, Director of the Editorial Department of Economic Research. Professor He Canfei, Dean of the School of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Peking University, delivered a speech titled "Supply-Side Pathways, Demand-Side Pathways, and Enhancing Comparative Advantages in Urban Exports." Professor He's research aims to explore the pathways, mechanisms, and heterogeneity of the proximity between an industry and local "supply-side capabilities" and "demand-side capabilities" on enhancing the industry's export comparative advantage. He pointed out that both supply-side and demand-side proximity positively impact the enhancement of industrial export comparative advantage. Demand-side advantageous industries may offer more opportunities to share intermediaries and more spillover of demand-side management knowledge, thereby promoting the enhancement of demand-side comparative advantages in related industries. In terms of heterogeneity, he found that supply-side proximity has a stronger promoting effect on high-tech industries, while demand-side proximity has a stronger promoting effect on industries with greater external demand fluctuations; Supply-side proximity can further promote the rapid enhancement of the comparative export advantage of existing industries, while demand-side proximity can suppress the exit of existing industries.

He Canfei's keynote speech

Ni Pengfei, Director of the Urban and Competitiveness Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, delivered a report titled "Gathering and Dispersal: New Trends in Changes in China's Spatial Economic Pattern." Director Ni's research suggests that the power of gathering and dispersing is reshaping the new pattern of China's regional economy. He began by discussing different hypotheses about regional and intercity relationships, arguing that spatial relationships determine the power of gathering and dispersing, and that both gathering and diffusion have their pros and cons, making the concept of "gathering within dispersal" of great significance. The power of gathering and dispersing in China presents a multi-scale game: at the regional scale, it manifests as vertical differentiation between north and south, and horizontal integration across east and central; At the city level, this manifests as upgrades in first-tier cities and the rise of second-tier cities; At the scale of clusters, it is reflected in the widespread appearance of metropolitan areas and the gradual emergence of urban agglomerations; The urban-rural scale is reflected in the narrowing urban-rural gap and the emergence of mega-urbanized areas. The Yangtze River Economic Belt is rapidly rising in a "gathering within dispersal" game across four scales.

Ni Pengfei's keynote speech

The breakout presentations were presented in the form of speeches and commentary. The eight sub-venues together attracted over a thousand scholars to participate online.

The theme of Sub-venue One is "Urban Economic Growth." The morning session was chaired by Professor Wu Yin, who first shared the historical positioning, forms of implementation, and universal significance of the Lewis turning point in China's urbanization. Cao Xiguang explored the impact of global value chain participation on the spatial agglomeration of China's local industries. Zheng Liang used quantitative spatial models to study the impact of urban diversity on population migration, finding that people with different education levels have different preferences for livable urban environments. Chen Gang verified that Hong Kong's overall economic slowdown caused by its own development reasons has contributed to the overall economic development level of the Hong Kong region.

刘涛雄教授主持了下午会议，他探讨了从平台视角看发展，提出一个解释区域经济发展的新框架。郑雨涵研究了新冠肺炎疫情下城市弹性测度及其影响因素。刘子亮从人力资本积累、企业全要素生产率与宏观经济效率视角研究了区域发展中的路径依赖效应。刘永健分析了城市建设用地价格扭曲与中国产业结构演进关系。王瀚佑探讨了互联网信贷、劳动生产率与企业转型应对。潘爽基于出口技术复杂度的考察研究了数字经济如何赋能外循环。

Sub-venue 1: "Urban Economic Growth"

The theme of Sub-venue 2 is "Urban Agglomerations and Agglomeration Economies." The morning agenda was chaired by Professor Liu Xiuyan, with five teachers giving speeches and discussing sessions. Chen Lu explored the relationship between spatial co-gathering, knowledge spillover, and innovation performance. Niu Yujia reported on the spatial structure and influencing factors of urban cluster carbon emissions, while Li Sijia studied the relationship between urban agglomeration expansion and carbon emissions. Yan Yu discussed the consumption effect of population aggregation. Wang Chaoqun reported on the regional economic differences and convergence issues of China's urban agglomerations.

The afternoon agenda was chaired by Teacher Xu Ying, with four teachers participating in presentations and discussions. Xu Ying reported on the relationship between urban economic density and corporate risk decision-making. Xu Le explored the agglomeration effects of industrial pollution in regional integration. Du Wei reported on the development issues of metropolitan areas amid digital transformation. Hong Zhenyi analyzed the relationship between city size, employment density, and air pollution. During the conference, the participating scholars engaged in in-depth discussions and excellent commentary on each other's papers, providing rich and practical suggestions for further refining the research.

Sub-venue 3 was themed "Research on Real Estate and Land Markets." The morning session was hosted by Professor Tang Yugang. Teachers Tang Yugang, Huang Naqun, Gong Jinjin, Huang Yongbin, and Shen Shulin each presented and discussed topics such as tax substitution and the price gap between commercial and residential land, the pandemic and the urban housing market, the dynamic relationship and influencing factors of urban housing prices, the grouping of basic education and school district housing prices, and the emotional returns of the local housing market.

The afternoon session was hosted by Professor Xie Danxia, who, together with Wang Xiao, Han Libin, Yang Xiaodong, Zhang Baolin, Zhao Wenzhe, and Wang Yidi, discussed topics such as housing prices, wealth inequality, land property rights system reform, optimal property tax from the perspective of fiscal revenue and expenditure balance, land policy and spatial mismatch, spatial differentiation of long-term rental apartment rents, shadow banking, housing bubbles and precise regulation, development zone construction, land transfer and industrial structure adjustment, "housing price stickiness," uncertainty, and fluctuations in the housing demand system.

Sub-Session 3: "Real Estate and Land Market Research"

The theme of Sub-venue 4 was "Urban Policy Analysis." Mr. Xiao Zhongyi chaired the morning meeting, where he, together with Chen Haitao, Zhang Yifei, Zhao Weiyi, Shao Lei, and Wan Kai, delivered reports. They discussed and analyzed topics such as the selection of national-level innovative cities and enterprise innovation willingness, natural disaster impacts and government disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities, public health system reform, local fiscal impacts and land supply, as well as national-level development zone selection and urban green innovation.

Professor Sun Xiaohua chaired the afternoon meeting and, together with seven professors—Ren Junlin, Zhang Yi, Zhao Yinghong, Zhang Jiacai, Zhou Mengtian, and Liu Xiangfeng—took turns reporting and commenting. They discussed topics such as resource tax reform, the spread and influencing factors of COVID-19, the impact of lockdown policies on economic activities during the pandemic, enterprise digitalization and cross-regional capital flows, location-oriented policies, the effectiveness of purchase restriction policies, and public expectations.

Sub-Venue 4: "Urban Policy Analysis"

The theme of Sub-Session 5 was "Urban Environmental Management," with ten researchers delivering excellent presentations on this topic. The research questions can be divided into four aspects: 1. Environmental Policy and Green Innovation: Yan Zheming found that the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" pollutant reduction policies are beneficial for enterprises' green technology innovation. 2. Factors affecting environmental quality: Guo Qingbin's research found that smart cities significantly improve urban energy efficiency; Ma Qingshan's research found that the establishment of national ecological industrial parks significantly improved urban air quality; Gao Ziwang's research found that a multi-center urban structure helps reduce corporate COD emissions; Zhou Yi's research found that monitoring stations help reduce COD emission differences among upstream and downstream urban polluting enterprises; Song Jiahang's research found that the proportion of zombie enterprises is negatively correlated with local enterprise pollution. 3. Environmental Policy and Housing Prices: Zhang Li's research found that disclosure of pollution information reduces public willingness to pay for housing through stigma effects; Fan Xunfa researched that the "relocation, renovation, and closure" policy for chemical enterprises within one kilometer of the Yangtze River significantly increases housing value within two kilometers of the riverbank. 4. Green Total Factor Productivity: Yin Xiangfei calculated and analyzed the green total factor productivity of Chinese cities based on the DEA-Weakness model.

Sub-venue 5: "Urban Environmental Governance"

The theme of Sub-venue 6 is "Urban Transportation." Teacher Wan Liyang chaired the morning meeting, where he presented and commented together with four teachers—Xiong Yunjun, Pang Jindong, and Wang Kunlun—discussing topics such as high-speed rail and intercity epidemic transmission, the impact of highway construction investment on urban-rural income gaps, the spread of COVID-19 in China, low-carbon transportation transformation, and carbon emissions.

Teacher Xu Xiaoshu presided over the afternoon meeting, delivering reports and speeches with Yuan Yanwen, Zhong Haotian, Shang Yuping, and Fang Haidong. Discussion topics included the impact of China's high-speed rail connectivity and enterprise entry on global value chains, transportation network accessibility and county-level industrial development during transition, reflections on transportation costs, congestion, and urban structure issues, how expressways can shape multi-center spatial structures, and measurement of capital function costs. The research shared by the attending scholars was primarily empirical and multidimensional, showcasing cutting-edge progress in quantitative indicators such as transportation accessibility and functional cost measurement, as well as in measuring the economic and social effects of transportation. Focusing on cutting-edge hot topics such as the pandemic, high-speed rail construction, and urban spatial structure, topics such as autonomous driving and the identification of tool variables used in models have repeatedly sparked lively discussions in the sub-forum.

Sub-venue 6: "Urban Transportation"

The theme of Session 7 was "Urban Population and Labor Force." Professor Zhang Chuanyong chaired the morning session, presenting empirical research on labor mobility, urban population size control, and occupational diversity based on data from China's labor dynamics survey. Liu Shimeng shared how human capital can promote the development of a "smart city." Cheng Zhangji and Liang Hui both introduced their research topics on population mobility and talent introduction.

Professor Qu Zhaopeng, as the afternoon session host, delivered a speech titled "From Convergence to Divergence: The Latest Trends in the Evolution of Wage Differences Among Chinese Migrant Workers in Cities." Teachers You Wei, Wei Dongxia, Cao Xiang, and Wang Danli each gave speeches on topics such as the impact of domestic immigration restrictions on welfare, urbanization and migrant livelihoods, low-carbon city construction and green lifestyles, urbanization, land rights, andS gender property equality. Scholars at the meeting provided comments on the speeches, offered their suggestions, created a lively exchange and discussion atmosphere, and focused answers to questions from the online audience.

Sub-venue 7: "Urban Population and Labor Force"

The theme of Sub-venue 8 is "Urban Innovation." The speakers in this session will explore urban innovation in depth through various theories and methods centered on spillover. Teachers Yao Changcheng and Ding Huanfeng presided over the morning and afternoon meetings, respectively. Yao Changcheng was the first to share his research on urban network externalities and regional innovation differences. Zhong Zhaohui used the "Broadband China" strategy as an example to study the core mechanisms by which China's network infrastructure significantly promotes inter-city cooperation and innovation. Li Bowen, Nie Xuanyi, Du Jie, and Zhang Jiahao each study urban innovation from new perspectives such as e-commerce, biotech startups, the structure of intermediate goods imports, and environmental judicial protection. Tang Dapeng re-examined the role of government science and technology spending in enterprise innovation from the perspectives of fiscal policy convergence and enterprise factor allocation. Xu Zhipeng revealed the mechanism by which capital-labor relative price distortions in China suppress technological progress and capital bias. Both Zhang Bin and Xu Yuan focus on the correlation and unrelated diversity of technology, exploring the relationship between urban innovation capacity and technological complexity. Starting from the effects of category classification, agglomeration, and selection, Professor Ding Huanfeng systematically constructed a framework for analyzing regional innovation advantages.

Sub-Venue 8: "Urban Innovation"

After the online forum concluded, the organizing committee organized participants to conduct peer evaluations of papers. The evaluation results would serve as reference indicators and, together with expert opinions, select papers that entered the anonymous review process of Economic Research.

Written by Xu Qingwen, Liu Xiuying, Wan Shanquan, Chen Tao, Ren Zhuoran, Zhan Yanwei, Liu Junyang, He Shuqi, Li Shiyun

Overall Composition | Liu Xiuying

Reviewed by Zhao Min