Abstract：The government decision-making has an important role in economic activities. As the controller of the government, the replacement of the local political leader in each city will have an impact on the city's economic growth and spatial growth. Therefore based on the data of 250 prefecture level cities in 2000-2013, this paper studies the influence of local political leader replacement on urban spatial growth and its mechanism. The results show that: (1) The replacement of the local political leader may lead to the city's spatial growth rate fell 2 percentage points. We also find that one year after the replacement the urban spatial growth will increase by 1.5 percentage points. The growth of urban space in different regions is different with the replacement of local political leader. The growth in eastern region is more volatile than that in northeast and central regions and the growth in western regions is more balanced. The size of the city also affects this relationship. The influence that the replacement brings on urban space growth is more significant in big cities and small cities. (2) Local political leader indirectly affects urban space growth through land leasing and infrastructure construction. The area of land leasing reduce significantly the year when local political leader changes. In the first year after replacement, the area increases to maximum and then it declines with the end of term of office. In the year when the replacement happens, the impact on the infrastructure construction is also not obvious while in the two years followed it's significant. This paper have a practical significance on promoting economy fast and sustainable development. The Government should adopt relevant policies and measures to avoid the fluctuations in urban spatial growth because of the replacement of local political leader.
Keyword：local political leader replacement; urban space expansion; mechanism; government decision-making; land leasing;
【source】Economic Geography2017年10期
