How Does Regional Industrial Structure Evolve in China

Abstract

The integration of evolutionary economics into economic geography has revitalized research interests in the spatial emergence of new industries and industrial evolution of regions (Boschma and Lambooy 1999; Neffke et al. 2011; Boschma and Minondo 2012; Isaksen 2014). It is argued that regions often evolve through a process of creative destruction (Schumpeter 1934; Garud and Karnoe 2001). On the one hand, regional industrial evolution is path-dependent. The emergence of new industries is determined by a set of competences and assets accumulated at the local level, and previous experience may affect the emergence and performance of these new industries (Buenstorf and Klepper 2009; Klepper and Simons 2000). Recent studies show that new industries evolve out of preexisting regional industrial structures and technological relatedness among industries affects the ways in which regions create new industries over time (Boschma and Frenken 2011; Neffke et al. 2011).