Multinational headquarter agglomeration and financial centre development in China: a geography of finance perspective and application

Abstract

金融地理学（Geography of Finance）的一个重要研究领域是用一系列强有力的理论工具说明和解释区域金融中心的发展。“信息腹地论”是该学科中研究现代金融地理的一个重要范畴。该理论帮助学者们研究和了解国际资金流、金钱景观、银行和服务机构的位置，以及金融中心的区域形成和发展。它提出的“信息溢出”、“不对称信息”和“路径依赖”不单是信息腹地形成的主要动力，也决定着一个城市在区内金融地位的变迁。本文运用前后两次详尽的企业总部区位调查辅助分析和预测中国各大主要的经济中心，包括北京、上海、广州和深圳于可见将来在区域内金融地位的未来发展，并指出北京最有条件发展成为中国最大的金融中心。

One of the important research fields of Geography of Finance is to use a series of powerful theoretical tools to illustrate and explain the development of financial centers. As an important category studying modern geography of finance in the above-mentioned discipline, the "information hinterland" theory helps scholars study the international capital flow, the financial landscape, the location of banks and service organizations, and the establishment and development of financial centers. This theory assumes that "information externalities", "asymmetric information", and "path dependence" are important factors that not only motivate the forming of information hinterland, but also determine the changes in the financial position of a city in the region. On the basis of the two surveys on corporate headquarter locations conducted in the year of 2000 and 2004, this paper analyzes and predicts the development of every major economic center in China (including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) in terms of their financial position in their perspective regions in the foreseeable future, and points out that Beijing has the best conditions and potential to develop into the largest financial center in China.