The impact of population agglomeration on economic resilience: Evidence from 280 cities in China

This paper uses data from 280 cities in the period from 2008 to 2021 to investigate the impact of population agglomeration on economic resilience. The empirical results reveal that population agglomeration significantly improves economic resilience. Moreover, these findings demonstrate the robustness including a new additional sample, alternative measures for economic resilience, the inclusion of supplementary control variables, and the application of the instrumental variable methodology. Furthermore, population agglomeration improves economic resilience through stimulating consumer demand and promoting technological innovation. Analyses also show that, compared to cities with high levels of informatization, industrialization and marketization, population agglomeration is more likely to improve economic resilience. Overall, this study provides new insights into population agglomeration and economic resilience.