Measuring the spillover effects: Some Chinese evidence

Based on recently developed methods of exploratory spatial data analysis, t his article seeks to prove the desired spread effects in the Chinese space economy from a core-periphery perspective. Recently developed methods of ex ploratory spatial data analysis provide new insights on the spatial pattern of the interaction of Chinese provincial output growth rates over the 1978 -1994 period. Findings indicate that the economic spillover effects are mos t-evident at the first order of province contiguity from Guangdong, where t he two coastal provinces of Hainan and Guangxi are identified with a signif icant spread pattern, while non-coastal provinces Hunan and Jiangxi are obs erved with a strong polarization pattern. A further analysis indicates that the state preferential policies favoring the coastal region are the fundam ental force in determining the direction of spread-polarization processes i n the Chinese space economy. This finding confirms Friedmann's hypothesis o n spatial interaction, namely, that the spread process is a successful, dif fusion of the core's existing institutions into the periphery.