Impacts of Telecommunications Infrastructure and Its Spillover Effects on Regional Economic Growth in China

This dissertation empirically tests the impacts of telecommunications infrastructure as well asits spillover effects on regional economic growth in China. Based on data for 29 regions ofChina for the period 1986-2006, a panel data approach is used in the context of conditionalconvergence theory for estimation. A modified shift-share analytical framework is used todecompose regional economic output changes by labor and capital factor inputs. Withappropriate controls for heteroscedasticity and spatial autocorrelation, the research findingsof this dissertation include: 1) that for total regional economic growth, telecommunicationsinfrastructure has significant negative impacts, implying the possibility of “investmentcongestion” in the telecommunications sector in China’s regions during the examined period;2) that for regional economic growth due to capital factors, telecommunicationsinfrastructure has significant and positive impacts, indicating a positive relationship betweenthis key input and regional output growth; 3) that negative and significant spillover effects oftelecommunications infrastructure are identified for total regional economic growth, whereasthe spillovers have positive influences on regional growth due to capital factors only; 4)conditional convergence has been occurring among China’s regions, providing furtherevidence to the conditional convergence literature.