Last updated on: 4/28/2005

Name (Last, First): Ji, Mo
Title: Ph.D. student in Sustainable Development
Co-authors: No
Department: Earth Institute
Organization: Columbia University
Mailing Address: 520 West 114th Street Apt 2 New York, NY, 10025
Work Phone: 212-853-1975
FAX: N/A
E-mail: mj2147@columbia.edu
Web Site: N/A

Paper Title: Geographic Influence on Regional Development in China

Abstract:
This paper is dedicated to explore the relationship between underlying ecological variables and various economic and demographic outcomes in China. The key ecological ?eterminants?that I investigate are: climate zone (C), malaria risk (M), elevation (E), distance to the coast (DC) and urban extent (UE). The key ?utcome?variables that I investigate are the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), population density (PD) and urban extent (UE). Data used to run regression are from Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University. The graphs are made by the Geographic Information System (GIS). This study investigates the geographic effects on regional development in China. To a large extent, differentials are explained by geographic factors. In the context of market reforms and the open-door policy, the spatial and topographic advantages of the coastal provinces are realized. My empirical tests verify my hypothesis. It finds that geographic factors are statistically significant in explaining the regional disparity in China. This disparity is mainly a coast versus non-coast gap.