Research on the Dynamic Evolution, Regional Differences, and Convergence of Commodity Market Segmentation in China

Research on the Dynamic Evolution, Regional Differences, and Convergence of Commodity Market Segmentation in China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Research on the Dynamic Evolution, Regional Differences, and Convergence of Commodity Market Segmentation in China Wenhui You, Wentao Zhu, Leixi Wang, Chunliang Gao This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6481679/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper uses manually collected data on the consumer price index of eight commodity categories from 281 Chinese cities spanning the years 2001 to 2021 to measure the Commodity Market Segmentation Index (CMS) by the relative price method. The analysis incorporates Kernel density estimation, the Dagum Gini coefficient, and convergence models to examine trends, regional disparities, sources, and the presence of σ convergence and β convergence within the Chinese commodity market. The findings reveal the following: ① At both the national level and across four economic regions, a discernible trend has emerged indicating a decline in the CMS. ② Although the national market demonstrates integration, significant regional disparities persist within China. The primary contributor to these disparities is the overlapping density in the CMS, accounting for 49.05%. ③ Convergence models suggest that the CMS at the national level, as well as in the Eastern and Central regions, exhibits temporal fluctuations. Notably, no significant σ convergence is observed. Conversely, in the Western and Northeast regions, dispersion initially increased before subsequently decreasing, with the final dispersion value being significantly lower than the initial value, suggesting the presence of σ convergence at both the national level and across the four economic regions. Evidence supports both absolute and conditional β convergence in the CMS. Furthermore, a significant spatial correlation exists within the CMS, suggesting that the CMS level in one city not only affects its market but also influences neighboring markets. The findings of this study may contribute to the advancement of market integration. Commodity Market Segmentation Regional Differences Source Decomposition Spatial Convergence Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6481679","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":447884334,"identity":"d09c044d-6474-4bd2-aa34-f57843fd27fa","order_by":0,"name":"Wenhui You","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jimei University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenhui","middleName":"","lastName":"You","suffix":""},{"id":447884338,"identity":"f2c4e236-a7ee-4e06-8225-f84fe3a633f8","order_by":1,"name":"Wentao Zhu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAApklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYwZcPDz95AkpaENBnJngMk2ZVw2MbghgORipmnnTH+zPvjPA/DDQbGDx9ziHHY7BwDY56E2zyMsxuYJWduI1JLcg5QC7PMATZmXmK1HM5JOMfDJpFAvBbD5pyEAzw8JGhJK2b+k5bMI8FzsJk4vxjOTt78cYaNnb398eaDHz4SpaUBYWEDTlUoQJ44ZaNgFIyCUTCiAQAN3TKc37QEywAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Jimei University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wentao","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhu","suffix":""},{"id":447884342,"identity":"7dd051e8-6704-4a7d-b70f-9327f57e17fc","order_by":2,"name":"Leixi Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yunnan University of Finance And Economics","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Leixi","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":447884343,"identity":"9bc94553-c556-4a9c-b941-766a4d7169ef","order_by":3,"name":"Chunliang Gao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jimei University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chunliang","middleName":"","lastName":"Gao","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-19 00:38:06","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6481679/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6481679/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101559423,"identity":"264f4a88-306f-4591-b1a4-973e515c2e47","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-31 10:56:11","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1240831,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptwithoutAuthorDetails.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6481679/v1_covered_5a3f2c93-ac34-4911-89f1-d5b21fa302db.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Research on the Dynamic Evolution, Regional Differences, and Convergence of Commodity Market Segmentation in China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Commodity Market Segmentation, Regional Differences, Source Decomposition, Spatial Convergence","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6481679/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6481679/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper uses manually collected data on the consumer price index of eight commodity categories from 281 Chinese cities spanning the years 2001 to 2021 to measure the Commodity Market Segmentation Index (CMS) by the relative price method. The analysis incorporates Kernel density estimation, the Dagum Gini coefficient, and convergence models to examine trends, regional disparities, sources, and the presence of \u003cem\u003eσ\u003c/em\u003e convergence and \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e convergence within the Chinese commodity market. The findings reveal the following: ① At both the national level and across four economic regions, a discernible trend has emerged indicating a decline in the CMS. ② Although the national market demonstrates integration, significant regional disparities persist within China. The primary contributor to these disparities is the overlapping density in the CMS, accounting for 49.05%. ③ Convergence models suggest that the CMS at the national level, as well as in the Eastern and Central regions, exhibits temporal fluctuations. Notably, no significant \u003cem\u003eσ\u003c/em\u003e convergence is observed. Conversely, in the Western and Northeast regions, dispersion initially increased before subsequently decreasing, with the final dispersion value being significantly lower than the initial value, suggesting the presence of σ convergence at both the national level and across the four economic regions. Evidence supports both absolute and conditional β convergence in the CMS. Furthermore, a significant spatial correlation exists within the CMS, suggesting that the CMS level in one city not only affects its market but also influences neighboring markets. The findings of this study may contribute to the advancement of market integration.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Research on the Dynamic Evolution, Regional Differences, and Convergence of Commodity Market Segmentation in China","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-04-28 09:39:31","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6481679/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3b290aae-fe4a-4226-b19c-78130acb6b98","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 28th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-31T10:55:14+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-04-28 09:39:31","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6481679","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6481679","identity":"rs-6481679","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}