Research on the driving mechanism of county economic high quality development in the Yellow River Basin： Based on the Random Forest Model

The high quality development of county economies serves as a crucial foundation for implementing national strategies， including advancing high quality development in the Yellow River Basin. An evaluation index system for the high quality development of county level economy was constructed and the entropy weight⁃TOPSIS method was adopted to conduct quantitative analysis and evaluation on the level of high quality development of county level economy in the Yellow River Basin， and a Random Forest Model was used to explore its driving mechanism. The findings revealed that： （1） The level of high quality development of county level economy in the Yellow River Basin was continuously improved. Among them， counties with a high development level were concentrated in Shandong and Inner Mongolia； counties with a medium development level were mainly located in Henan Province； and counties with a low development level were mainly distributed in Gansu and Shanxi in Gansu and Shanxi Provinces；（2）The high quality development of county level economy in the Yellow River Basin was driven by factors such as policy， population， economy， resources， nature and location， and the order of driving intensity was： policy > population > economy > resources > nature > location； （3）There were differences in the response thresholds of the high quality development level of county‑level economy in the Yellow River Basin to the leading driving factors. Among these factors， farmers income， industrial development， investment intensity， fiscal expenditure and technological innovation exhibited non‑linear positive impacts， while food security showed a non‑linear negative impact. To promote the high quality development of county level economy in the Yellow River Basin， suggestions were put forward， including formulating scientific economic regulation policies， continuously increasing farmers income， accelerating industrial transformation and upgrading， enhancing technological innovation capabilities， and increasing agricultural awards and subsidies.