Regional Disparities and Dynamic Distribution in the High-Quality Development of the Marine Economy

The maritime economy is gradually becoming a new engine for the high-quality development of the economic and social sectors. However, due to factors such as geographical location and natural endowments, there are significant regional disparities, making it challenging for the national maritime economy to achieve balanced development. Therefore, this paper constructs an index evaluation system for the high-quality development of the maritime economy. It calculates the comprehensive index and subsystem indices of the high-quality development of the maritime economy in 11 coastal provinces (cities and districts) in China from 2008 to 2020 and examines their regional disparities and dynamic evolution. The study reveals the following: (1) The high-quality development levels of the maritime economy in coastal provinces show a fluctuating upward trend, with different dimensions of advantages in each province. (2) The overall regional disparities exhibit a development trajectory of expansion followed by contraction, with a general trend in narrowing disparities. Currently, the southern maritime economic zone has the greatest internal differences, and the gap between the southern and northern maritime economic zones is relatively pronounced. (3) Significant fluctuations are observed in the disparities in high-quality development of the maritime economy between China and the three major maritime economic zones. The internal gaps within the northern and southern maritime economic zones have expanded to varying degrees, whereas the gaps within the eastern maritime economic zone have shown some convergence. (4) Inter-group mobility among provinces in different states of high-quality development of the maritime economy is low, and provinces in a low-level state exhibit a noticeable "low-end lock-in" phenomenon. This paper, through a timely spatial and temporal analysis of China's high-quality development process of the maritime economy, aims to provide policy guidance for advancing the high-quality development of the maritime economy.