Polycentric spatial structure and its economic performance: evidence from meta-analysis

Although there seems to be a widely shared expectation that polycentricity increases economic competitiveness, the empirical findings are inconsistent. As the first meta-analysis, this paper examines whether emerging empirical evidence provides an insight into the polycentricity–productivity effect. Based on 139 estimates, we find no compelling evidence to support that polycentricity is either beneficial or detrimental for economic development. Further meta-logit regressions show that the measurement of polycentricity and the control of agglomeration economies indeed affect the polycentricity–productivity effect. In contrast, measuring polycentricity from different perspectives and the potential endogeneity do not appear to significantly influence this effect.