부산대학교 도서관

City coordination conferences serves as mechanisms for the allocation of interests and responsibilities among diverse localities, accomplished through collaborative meetings to foster harmonious regional development. An ensuing inquiry pertains to the eligibility criteria for attendance, particularly relevant as China's regional collaboration intensifies, leading to an increasing in flux of cities into one or several coordination organizations. This burgeoning participation provides a rich array of cases to scrutinize, addressing the aforementioned question. Utilizing the Yangtze River Delta economic coordination conference as a paradigm, the authors employ a methodological approach involving panel data construction and a fixed effects model, revealing three noteworthy findings. Firstly, an inverted U-shaped relationship emerges between the absorption status of candidate cities and their economic development levels, elucidating that certain non-obligatory candidate cities can outcompete their economically optimal counterparts. Secondly, both formal and informal relationships between cities exert a significant and positive influence on the absorption status of a candidate city, with informal relationships exhibiting a complementary effect on the level of economic development. Thirdly, factors such as market volume, and industrial capacity play pivotal roles in the expansion dynamics of coordination conferences. This study critically analyzes the expansion mechanism of city coordination conferences, contributing to an enriched understanding of regional intricacies and local government relations in China.