Abstract:Regional integration constitutes a critical component in developing a unified national market. Examining whether it can strengthen China's participation in the international circulation carries significant practical implications. Using matched micro-data of Chinese industrial firms and customs transactions, coupled with China's multi-sector input-output tables, this study examines the impact of the Yangtze River Delta integration—a cooperative initiative among local governments—on firms' participation in global industrial chain segments. The findings are as follows: (1) Regional integration can significantly promote local firms to participate in more production stages of global value chains, mainly through importing more upstream products. (2) Heterogeneity analysis indicates that regional integration mainly affects larger, more productive, and domestically funded firms. (3) Mechanism analysis reveals that regional integration facilitates the expansion of firms' domestic chain length primarily through two channels: improving firms' total factor productivity and expanding firms' domestic market scale. This research provides valuable insights for promoting inter-regional government cooperation and advancing the secure and stable development of industrial chains.
