The Relationship between Industrial Parks and County Economic Growth in Underdeveloped Areas: Evidence from Gansu Province of China

Compared to developed regions, the development of industrial parks in underdeveloped areas has certain particularities. However, existing researches do not give a clear answer to the relationship between industrial parks and county economic development in underdeveloped areas. This article analyzes the relationship, heterogeneous effects, and pathways between industrial park construction and county-level economic growth in Gansu Province based on the DID model. It was found that industrial parks have a positive promoting effect on underdeveloped areas. And as time goes on, the promotion effect becomes more apparent. Secondly, the development of industrial parks in underdeveloped areas is still in its early stages and their scale is generally small, which means that industrial parks have a lower impact on the economies of counties with higher economic scales. At the same time, compared to provincial-level parks, national level parks have a lower impact on the economies of major counties. However, for developed regions, the development of industrial parks is relatively mature, and their impact on economic growth has shown a positive relationship consistent with the economic scale. In addition, industrial parks in underdeveloped areas mainly act on county-level economic development through capital agglomeration, but the agglomeration effect of human resources is not significant. Industrial parks in developed regions play a significant role in gathering capital, human resources, and other aspects.