The purpose of the study is to assess the factors of urban economic growth in People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the framework of heterogeneous space, meaning as the regional diversity of economic systems, in the context of the current period of market reforms. The article shows that urban development is a way to achieve a sustainable rate of China’s high economic growth. The author presents the description of the model and spatial characteristics of economic growth & urbanization in China. Using numerous statistical sources, the author has revealed that the high values of China’s economic growth were observed in the conditions of high urbanization rates & low per capita income. I have estimated the factors of urban economic growth in the framework of PRC’s heterogeneous space based on the neoclassical approach. In accordance with the assessment, the author found that spatial heterogeneity has a significant impact on the differences in the ratio of the factors of economic growth in Chinese cities. The contribution of extensive factors continues to play a key role in China’s urban economic growth, with the highest proportion of capital input for coastal cities & towns, and labour input — for interior region’s urban areas. As the assessment showed, intensive factors have a visible impact on economic growth only for coastal cities & towns. The author suggests that the economic growth in China is generated mainly coastal cities & towns, and investments in the interior region’s urban areas only maintain the required employment growth for ensuring social stability. For this reason, the Russian economy needs the extension of relations with agglomerations placed in seaside regions of China as well as the development of innovative and technological joint projects.

A study of the influence of foreign trade on economic growth is one of controversial research issues. The economy of Russia is based on close interactions with foreign markets, which are sources of its growth. Russia has a large number of regional economies, which are disproportionately connected with foreign markets. The regional specificity may correct significantly a contribution of foreign trade interactions to the economic growth of Russia. The existing research of the influence of foreign trade on the economic growth of Russian regions are episodic and outdated. The main purpose of the article is to assess the long-term impact of foreign trade on the economic growth of Russian regions in a decade (2007–2016). The methodology of the research is based on the neoclassical model of economic growth expanded by adding the parameters of the foreign trade interactions estimated by regions in stable and current prices. The hypothesis of a long-term positive impact of exports and imports on the Russian regions’ economic growth for all model specifications was confirmed. The consideration of regional specificity has given a more exact assessment of the cumulative contribution of regions to economic growth if the foreign trade relations are compared with the aggregated models. We have revealed that indicators of foreign trade, in general, made a positive contribution to economic growth, compensating negative impact of other factors. The paper shows the dependence of the dynamics of regional economic growth on the current volatility of export and import. We suppose that the generally positive impact of foreign trade on economic growth is corrected by regions, in which production and consumption are subsidized within the existing budgetary process. The tendency of the positive influence of export on economic growth is underestimated due to the regions delivering their production mostly to the domestic market. The tendency of the positive influence of import on economic growth is underestimated due to the regions where there are no largest logistic centres and no interaction with foreign countries. These estimates can be a confirmation of the need to intensify the policy of trade openness with the purpose of accelerating the Russian regional economy.