"City Building"and Talent Agglomeration:A Quasi-Natural Experiment Study Based on Innovative City Pilot
City building is a form of mobilized governance campaign in China and a crucial component of city de-velopment.It plays a significant role in the city development of China.However,its impact on the talent agglomeration remains underexplored.This study examines the impact of city building on talent agglomeration,focusing on the innova-tive city pilot policy.In 2006,China put forward a proposal to become an Innovation Nation.The pilot programme for in-novative cities was initiated by Shenzhen in 2008.As of 2023,there were 78 pilot cities.Previous studies have confirmed that innovative city construction can provide numerous benefits to cities,such as raising the level of urban innovation,pro-moting industrial upgrading,and improving the ecological environment.This study focuses on the relationship between in-novative city pilots and talent agglomeration,regional heterogeneity,and its mechanism.The results provide evidence for local governments to develop innovation strategies and policies for attracting talent.This study examines the impact of city building on local talent agglomeration in China,using the innovative city pilot as a quasi-natural experiment.A time-varying difference-in-differences(DID)model is constructed based on panel data from 256 prefecture-level cities between 2003 and 2019.Control variables,including city's economic level,education level,population density,openness,and medical service,are taken into account.The empirical analysis is conducted in the following steps.Firstly,the parallel trend test is performed.Secondly,the study examines the regression results with and without control variables,and separately considers the fixed effects of city and year.Thirdly,a placebo test is conducted using a counterfactual approach.The estimated coefficients'robustness is ensured by randomising the sample and constructing a pseudo-experimental group 1,000 times.Finally,this study analyses the mechanism by exploring regional heterogeneity and mediating effects.The results show that the innovative city pilot policy can significantly improve the level of talent agglomeration,while regional differences also stand out.The influence on eastern cities was insignificant,while the influence on the other areas including middle,western,and northeast China was significant and positive.The mechanism analysis reveals that industrial structure upgrading is the mediating variable of pilot policies affecting talent agglomeration.This study suggests that implementing innovative pilot policies can have a positive impact on talent agglomeration and elicit varying effects in different regions.Mechanism analysis reveals that regional heterogeneity and industrial trans-fer are the primary reasons.As a result of the industrial structure upgrade in the east,some labour-intensive industries have been relocated to other regions.As other regions actively undertake the transfer of industries,the presence of indus-tries attracts a large number of talented individuals,thereby promoting talent agglomeration in the city.Based on these findings,this study proposes policy recommendations.Firstly,it suggests expanding the geographical scope of the pilot innovative cities,with a particular focus on increasing support for the central,western,and northeastern regions.Secondly,it suggests improving the evaluation system for pilot innovative cities.Thirdly,this study recommends strengthening the talent system by focusing not only on cultivating'high-precision','top-notch',and'shortage'talents but also on cultivating and supplying skilled talents.Furthermore,it is important to establish a diverse talent identification system and optimise talent policies to encourage the return of local talents and attract foreign talents.This study offers academic and practical implications.The findings verify the impact of city building on talent mo-bility and innovative cities,which enriches the literature on this theme.Additionally,it provides strategic guidance for the future construction of innovative cities and has practical value for promoting high-quality development of the local econo-my and society.
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