Abstract: Space political economy has focused on discussing issues related to urban development and balance, but few studies have targeted to the impact of city administrative hierarchy on urban development and spatial imbalance. Taking urban infrastructure construction as an example, this empirical test finds that in China's urban expansion, the financing capabilities varies depending on the city's administrative hierarchy, and such discrepancy expands over time and exhibits regional heterogeneity. Specifically, the financing advantages brought by administrative hierarchy weigh lest in China's eastern region, followed by the central and western regions, and weighs most in the northeast, presenting a unique pattern of inland provincial capital cities standing out. At the same time, the central balanced development policy has reduced the financing gap between China's east and west, making up for the financing disadvantages of some backward cities; the spatial spillover effect of high administrative level cities has also received empirical support; in the integrated urban agglomeration region of the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, cities are more likely to bear financing advantages due to the regional coordinated development. Therefore, in order to improve the spatial efficiency and sustainability of urban development, we should gradually establish a horizontal inter-city support system centered on high administrative hierarchy under the existing vertical support system and through the design of top-level policy support, so as to finally realize the coordinated development and win-win situation of metropolitan area.

Key words: city administrative hierarchy, financing capacity, spatial political economy, coordinated development