We study how efficient resource reallocation across cities affects potential aggregate growth. Using optimal resource allocation models and data on 284 China's prefecture-level cities in the years 2003--2019, we quantitatively measure the cost of misallocation of resources. We show that average aggregate output gains from reallocating resources across nationwide cities to their efficient use are 1.349- and 1.287-fold in the perfect and imperfect allocation scenarios. We further provide evidence on the effects of administrative division adjustments and local allocation. This suggests that city-level adjustments can yield more aggregate gain and that the output gain from nationwide allocation is likely to be more substantial than that from local allocation. Policy implications are proposed to improve the resource allocation efficiency in China.

翻译：本研究探讨了城市间高效资源配置如何影响潜在总体经济增长。基于最优资源配置模型及2003-2019年间中国284个地级市的数据，我们定量测算了资源错配的成本。研究表明：在全国城市范围内将资源重新配置至高效用途时，在完全有效配置与不完全有效配置两种情景下，平均总体产出增益分别为原始水平的1.349倍与1.287倍。我们进一步提供了行政区划调整与局部配置影响的实证证据。这表明城市层级的调整能产生更大的总体收益，且全国性资源配置带来的产出增益很可能显著高于局部配置。本文提出了提升中国资源配置效率的政策建议。