The Impact of New Quality Productive Forces on Advanced Manufacturing Clusters: Empirical Evidence from China

New quality productive forces (NQPFs) provide vital impetus for the development of advanced manufacturing clusters (AMCs). Using 30 provincial panel data in China from 2013 to 2023, this study employs two-way fixed effects, mediation, and threshold effect models to analyze the impact of NQPFs on AMCs. The results reveal that (1) NQPFs significantly promote the development of AMCs, and this conclusion remains robust after rigorous endogeneity tests and robustness tests. (2) NQPFs exert a stronger driving effect on AMCs in coastal regions than in inland regions (both significant), and they are significant in non-resource-based regions and highly industrialized regions. (3) NQPFs indirectly foster the development of AMCs by prompting technological innovation (encompassing imitative and independent innovation), facilitating talent agglomeration, and driving industrial structure advancement. (4) The driving effect of NQPFs exhibits a significant nonlinear upward trend. This study provides new theoretical insights and empirical evidence for the sustainable development of the manufacturing industry.