Abstract

The aim of this paper is to improve the level of consumption in the region and achieve sustained and steady regional economic growth. According to global autocorrelation calculation, the difference in county consumption level of the Wanjiang City Cluster since 2004 generally takes on an increasing trend, while the consumption level presents unbalanced development. Evolution of spatial distribution pattern indicates that high level consumption areas are mainly distributed along Yangtze River and these areas are constantly expanding, while low level consumption areas are situated in central Anhui and southwest mountain areas of Anhui. The differentiation pattern of consumption level gets constantly increasing and tends to remain stable. Quantile regression approach was used in different quantiles to depict effects of influencing factors on consumption level. In all quantiles, per capita GDP, per capita financial revenue, and average wage exert a positive effect on county consumption level, while the per capita industrial added value and net income of farmers produce a negative effect on county consumption level. Based on the overall grasp of the influencing factors of the regional consumption level and the quantile regression analysis, in order to improve the consumption level in the region and reduce the difference in regional consumption, policy makers should make every effort to improve the basic conditions for regional economic development and implement it in a targeted manner when formulating the regional consumption policy Countermeasures to Improve Regional Consumption Level.

Key words: County consumption level, evolution of spatial pattern, exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), quantile regression, Wanjiang City Cluster.