Do China’s National Agricultural Science and Technology Parks Promote County Economic Development? An Empirical Examination Based on Multi-Period DID Methods

China’s National Agricultural Science and Technology Parks (NASTPs) play a key role in improving the nation’s agro-industrial structure regional economic development; notably, NASTPs can demonstrate innovations modern agricultural science technology and, relatedly, incubate emerging agri-industries. However, after more than 20 years of development, scholars have not yet to confirm whether contribute local economies. This study sought explore impact on county identify mechanisms behind this impact, verify these effects using multi-period double difference method based panel data from 1743 counties China collected between 2000 2019. The found that significantly improved development. policy were mainly evident western regions with higher levels financial resources. No spatial spillover observed. drove growth through three main channels: agglomeration, institutional environment, innovation effects. These findings provide insights useful for designing policies related high-quality construction sci-tech parks, economies, reduction development gaps.