Does the development zone promote population urbanization? Evidence from China

As the main space carriers of industrial agglomeration and land development, the development zones' (DZs') ability to absorb the population is crucial to the coordination of land urbanization and population urbanization. Based on the theory of New Economic Geography, this study uses China's fifth and sixth census data to empirically analyze the impact and mechanism of DZs on population urbanization by comprehensively utilizing propensity score matching, difference-in-difference model and mediating effect model. Results show that the establishment of DZs can promote the population urbanization. When the dominant industries planned by the DZs are in line with the local comparative advantage, the intensity of population urbanization affected by the DZs will enhance. The "policy rents" provided by the DZs attract firms to gather, which in turn creates additional jobs by attracting new firms and expanding the scale of incumbent firms, attracting additional population inflow. From another perspective, the establishment of DZs improves labor's wages and welfare, promotes the stable living of labor nearby, which boost population urbanization. In addition, the expansion of land supply is also a channel for the DZ to promote population urbanization.