Empirical analysis on regional economic growth effects of national development strategies: The case of Heilongjiang Province

Overall Regional Development Strategy in the Twelfth Five Year Plan indicates the central government´s determination to narrow the economic development gap and to promote harmonious regional economic development. Many studies have analyzed the positive role of national development strategies, but there is not much empirical evidence on the effect of its implementation. To be able to evaluate the effect of national development strategies objectively, it is necessary to find an appropriate starting point. We start from total factor productivity (TFP), combining with Heilongjiang province´s data from 1990 to 2011 and measuring changes in total factor productivity of Heilongjiang province before and after the Northeast Old Industrial Bases Revitalization Strategy by dummy variables. The result shows that the total factor productivity is a more objective indicator of regional growth effect of national development strategies. National development strategies do play a positive role in promoting regional economic growth, but the effect has not yet been fully exploited, there is further exploration to improve the efficiency.