Abstract: using the panel data of 42 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from 2000 to 2017, based on the analysis of the evolution of the economic pattern of urban agglomeration, this paper uses the spatial Dobbin model to calculate and decompose the spatial spillover effect of urban economic growth. It is found that although the spatial distribution of GDP in the Yangtze River Delta presents a relatively stable "core edge" pattern, the decline of the disequilibrium index from 2000 to 2017 indicates the emergence of the diffusion effect. Economic growth shows significant positive spatial spillover effect and strong robustness, but the effects of different factors are different, especially the indirect effect. The spatial spillover effect decomposition based on spatial measurement shows that the spillover effect in the core area is significantly greater than that in the edge area, and the spillover effect also increases significantly with the advancement of the integration process; The spatial spillover effect presents an "inverted U" trend with the increase of distance, and the spillover effect is still strong after more than 400 km, indicating that the increase in the number of cities within a certain range is conducive to give full play to the spatial spillover effect and realize the coordinated growth of regional economy.
