Abstract:

As an important economic zone and ecological barrier in China， the Yellow River Basin plays an important role in the national economic and social development pattern. It is of great significance to explore the spatial mechanism and influencing factors of the economic development of the Yellow River Basin for its regional coordinated and high-quality development. Based on the NPP/VIIRS night lighting data of the Yellow River Basin from 2013 to 2018， this paper analyzes the spatial mechanism and influencing factors of the economic development of the Yellow River Basin by using the methods of economic center of gravity， standard deviation ellipse， spatial autocorrelation and geographically weighted regression. The results show that： （1） From 2013 to 2018， the economic development level of the Yellow River Basin presents the characteristics of inverted pyramid structure， and the descending characteristics of downstream > midstream > upstream. （2） The center of economic development is located in Yan'an City， Shaanxi Province， and the evolution track is moving towards the southeast. The major axis of the standard deviation ellipse increases， while the minor axis decreases. The direction of the ellipse is roughly the same as that of the Yellow River. （3） The urban economic development of the Yellow River Basin does not have spatial dependence and spillover effect on the whole. HH cluster area is mainly concentrated in Yinchuan， Xianyang， Dongying and other places. Most areas in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and some inter provincial border areas have been located in LL cluster area for a long time. LH cluster area is mostly located near provincial capital cities or provincial sub central cities， and the corresponding provincial capital cities are located in HL cluster area except Yinchuan. （4） From the perspective of internal and external influence mechanism， urbanization， industrial structure， scientific and technological development， and transportation development all play a positive role in the economic development of the Yellow River Basin， while the geographical conditions have an obvious constraint on the geographical environment.

Key words: Yellow River Basin, economic development, night lighting, spatial characteristics, impact mechanism