Abstract: Scientific and technological talents (S&T talents) are the key driving forces to accelerate innovation and economic development. The mobility of S&T talents can enhance the spread and diffusion of knowledge, improve resource integration, and lead to technological innovation. China faces challenges in terms of S&T talents such as brain drain, low talent mobility and uneven talent distribution. Therefore, eliminating obstacles to talent mobility and improving the mechanisms for talent allocation have become important policy goals for China. Regional integration is an important policy tool under China’s urban agglomeration development strategy, which helps eliminate barriers to talent mobility. Based on large-scale publication data of more than 1 million talents, this study uses panel data of 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from 2000 to 2018, applies a staggered difference-in-differences model, and explores the effect of regional integration policy on S&T talent mobility. Specifically, we propose three research questions: (1) did regional integration policy in the Yangtze River Delta influence S&T talent mobility within the region; (2) what heterogeneities exist in the impact of regional integration policy on S&T talent mobility; (3) how the city-level development and living environment influences the effectiveness of regional integration policy. This study finds a significantly positive impact of regional integration policy on S&T talent mobility within cities and across cities. The positive effect is more prominent among talents in hard sciences, and those who moved between non-neighboring cities, as well as those who moved between cities in different provinces. Moreover, a larger promoting effect of regional integration policy is observed for cities with a population of over 5 million people. Additionally, this study suggests that regional integration policy slightly increased the net inflow of S&T talents in the cities with populations of less than 5 million population. Besides, this study demonstrates that the number of high-quality universities, innovation output, the development of a third industry, and the introduction of high-speed rail in cities strengthened the positive effect of regional integration policy on S&T talent mobility. These findings suggest a clear Matthew effect in terms of the promoting effect of regional integration policy on S&T talent mobility. This is because large-sized cities and cities with better development and living environment for S&T talents benefit more from regional integration policy in terms of S&T talent mobility. The findings of this study have multiple policy implications for optimizing talent distribution and improving regional governance efficiency. Small and medium-sized cities, and the cities with less advantageous environments for S&T talents’ development and living, should take a more active role in regional integration development to mitigate the Matthew effect concerning S&T talent mobility. They can leverage their proximity to major cities, and collaborate closely with talent center cities to enhance the spillover effect of regional integration policy on talent mobility. By creating favorable environments for scientific research, economic development, and living, they can promote the effectiveness of the impact of regional integration policy on S&T talent mobility, and ultimately improve the overall competitiveness of talents in the region.

摘要： 在中国行政区经济向一体化经济转变的背景下，长三角区域一体化政策是否影响以及如何影响科技人才流动？基于科学文献大数据，本文利用2000-2018年长三角地区41个城市的面板数据，使用多期双重差分模型，探究区域一体化政策对科技人才流动的效应。结果表明，长三角区域一体化政策促进了城市间及城市内部科技人才流动，对自然科学领域、非相邻城市间及省际城市间的科技人才流动的提升更大；区域一体化政策在一定程度上促进了区域人才向中小城市聚集；在高校资源越丰富，创新产出更多，第三产业越发达且高铁开通的城市，区域一体化政策对科技人才流动的促进作用越强。区域一体化政策对科技人才流动的提升作用存在多方面的“马太效应”。本研究为优化人才资源的空间布局、提升区域治理效率提供政策建议。