Do City Size and Population Density Influence Regional Innovation Output Evidence from China?

Abstract

This paper proposed a substantial gap to a large-scale population density and city size on regional innovation output. To measure the impact of population density and city size on regional innovation output, this study employs the threshold effect model with panel data of 230 prefectures and cities from 2007 to 2016. Based on the econometric analysis, the results exhibit a positive and significant relationship between population density, city size, and innovation output. This correlation suggests that when one factor increases, the other increases in the parallel direction and vice versa. Moreover, when the city size expands the threshold value of 2.934 percent, the innovation promotes and increases the effects of urban-scale expansion. On the other hand, for medium- and low-density cities, the increase of urban population density has a significant and positive impact on urban innovation output. However, for high-density cities, the increase of population density has no significant impact on innovation output.