2011 International Conference on e-Education, Entertainment and e-Management
Evaluation of the economic impact of public service's spatial uneven
development in metropolitan region
Hongxia Chen
School of Government
Central University of Finance and Economics
Beijing, China
chenhongxiasff@163.com
Abstract-The development of urban public service (such as
education) is usually uneven in the space in metropolitan
region. This phenomenon has a profound impact on urban
economy. This paper bases study on the New Economic
Geography and urban economics theories, after structuring the
conceptual model of the public service system in a monocentric
metropolitan region, using simulation to realize the basic
operation of this adaptive system, and evaluating of the
economic impact of public service's spatial uneven
development in metropolitan region. The results verity the
conclusions get from the theory analysis, which are supply and
demand of public service determine the public service system
operation, and basically, transaction costs of public service
determines the supply and demand of public services. In
metropolitan region, at the city boundaries where there is zero­
profit to service suppliers, with the further expansion of city
spatial scale, the economies of urban spatial scale reduced
quickly.
Keywords-public service; transaction costs; simulation;
metropolitan region
1. INTRODUCTION
A. Background
Metropolitan region is one of the spatial forms of the
advanced stage of urbanization. Up to now, ten major
metropolitan regions are forming in China, which are Pearl
River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Yangtze River Delta,
Cross-Strait Economic Zone, Beibu Gulf Economic Rim,
Central Plain, Harbin-Changchun Area (Northeastern Cities),
Sichuan basin (Chengyu Megalopolis), Greater Wuhan
Megalopolis, Guanzhong and Greater Changsha
Metropolitan Region. It can not deny that in these regions the
development of urban public service (such as education) is
usually uneven. There is adequate supply of public services,
with better quality in the built-up area, but compared with
this, the level and quality of public services in the urban
fringe and outlying regions is relatively lower. So far, both
the causes and the effects of the public service's spatial
uneven development in metropolitan region are still unclear.
B. Literature Review
Existing theoretical researches can be divided into two
major categories, which are the theoretical study and case
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studies. Michael Pacione believes that the provision of public
services is a major function of local governments, and the
capacity-needs gap can lead to major socio--spatial
disparities in levels of public service provision and in the
quality of life for residents of different jurisdictions [1].
David G. Whiteis's study emphasizes on the public health,
and he concludes that the pathologies that threaten "inner
city" neighborhoods in U.S. are the result of decades of
political neglect, economic exploitation and resource
withdrawal [2]. Gwyndaf Williams is interested in the
"model of metropolitan governance", and he believe that
Toronto's recent experience of attempting to simultaneously
reorganise the structures and responsibilities of metropolitan
government, the delivery of public services and the
management of urban form, is thus of considerable interest
[3]. T. Bunnell, P.A. Barter and S. Morshidi detail the rise
and socio--spatial implications of an expanded Kuala
Lumpur Metropolitan Area (KLMA). And concludes that
three interrelated dimensions-information and
communications technologies (ICTs), transport and housing
are critically evaluated in tum [4].
C. Research Objectives
The objectives of this paper can be divided to two parts,
one is in applied research, is to study the evaluation of the
economic impact of public service's spatial uneven
development in metropolitan region, the other is research in
basic theory, this study tries to analyze the mechanism of this
special system supply.
The research is organized as follows. First is the analysis
of the conceptual model of the public service system
structure, which relate to three key actors. This part is also
the basis of the following modeling. In the next section, the
modeling approach is demonstrated to verify the results get
from the theory analysis above. And the main implications of
this research and further research are emphasized.
II. INTERNAL MECHANISM OF PUBLIC SERVICE'S SPATIAL
UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT IN METROPOLITAN REGION
A. Analysis ofpublic service system
Public services tend to be those considered as so essential
to modem life which contain institutional service, concrete
service and the other service. From the perspective of system