Regional Heterogeneity of National-Level New Areas on Economic Development ——An Empirical Study Based on DID Model

The national-level new area, as the “policy experimental field” in the process of China’s reform and opening up, is of great practical significance to the regional heterogeneity of economic development. Thus, based on the panel data of 73 cities in China from 2003 to 2018, this paper adopts the difference-in-differences (DID) model to evaluate policy effect on per capita GDP and GDP growth rate, and excavating regional heterogeneity of “National-level New Areas Promoting Economic Growth”. Empirical research finds that: First, national-level new areas promote urban economic growth constantly, and the effects can last for at least 5 years. Second, compared with the developed cities in the eastern coastal areas, national-level new areas in the underdeveloped areas of the central and western regions more effectively promote urban economic development, and national-level new areas in the South boost economic development better than cities in the North. Third, comparing with the single-administrative national-level new areas, the cross-administrative national-level new areas promote regional economic development more effectively.