LAUSR

ABSTRACT This study investigates the intensity of spatial competition for population urbanization among China’s municipal governments and examines the asymmetry of competition intensity under different conditions, with particular attention paid to the unbalanced development of urbanization and the mechanism of urbanization competition in China. Therefore, based on panel data on 283 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2016, a two-regime spatial econometric model is firstly used to estimate the intensity of urbanization competition. Policy recommendations are proposed to improve population urbanization competitiveness among small and medium-sized cities and to promote healthy competition and coordinated spatial development of population urbanization.