The Influence of the Flow of Scientific and Technological Factors on the High-Quality Development of Regional Economy

In the new stage of China’s economic transformation from high-speed growth to high-quality development, scientific and technological factors have become the new driving force for the high-quality development of China’s economy. Therefore, how the flow of scientific and technological factors affects the high-quality development of regional economy is worthy of in-depth discussion. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces (municipalities and districts) in China from 2006 to 2019, this paper calculates the high-quality economic development index by constructing a comprehensive index system, and empirically examines the direct effect, spatial effect and threshold effect of the flow of scientific and technological factors (including scientific and technological talent factors and scientific and technological capital factors) on high-quality regional economic development. The results show the following: (1) The flow of science and technology talents and science and technology capital is the main driving factor for the high-quality development of regional economy, and the flow of science and technology talents and science and technology capital can play a complementary role. (2) High-quality regional economic development in China presents a certain clustering phenomenon in geographical space. The flow of scientific and technological talent elements and scientific and technological capital elements can stimulate the improvement of high-quality economic development in surrounding areas through the spatial spillover effect of high-quality economic development. (3) Only when the flow of science and technology factors is matched with a higher degree of financial structure and industrial structure can the flow of science and technology factors more effectively promote the high-quality development of regional economy. (4) The higher the level of industrialization and economic development, the more obvious the impact of the flow of scientific and technological talent factors and scientific and technological capital factors on the high-quality economic development. Meanwhile, the lower the degree of marketization, the more obvious the impact of the flow of scientific and technological capital factors on the high-quality economic development.