The interaction mechanism between urban green space and economic development is an significant content of the theoretical research on social-economic-natural compound ecosystem and ecological civilization. Panel Granger causality test and panel data regression analysis was used to conducts an empirical study on the causal interaction between urban green space and economic development in China.The results showed that: (1) at the national scale, the green space coverage and per capita GDP of urban built-up area were mutual Granger's causality, and there was an interactive relationship called "Positive Cyclic Feedback". In other words, improving the level of urban green space could promote urban economic development, and economic development could lead to the construction of urban green space. The cause-and-effect relationship between urban green coverage and per capita GDP in China can be categorized as "Green Magnetic Effect" (GME) and "Green Demand Effect" (GDE). (2) At the regional scale, a one-side Granger causal relationship between the per capita GDP and the urban green coverage was observed in the eastern China, i.e., the per capita GDP was the Granger causality of green space coverage, and green space coverage was not the Granger causality of per capita GDP. (3) In the west of China, the "Green Space-Economic Elasticity" and "Economic-Green space Elasticity" were higher than those of other regions in China, which implied the strongest interaction between urban green space and economic development. Considering the eastern China had relatively little leeway to promote economic development by urban green space expansion, strategies of improving the quality of green spaces were proposed for the future urban planning. To solve the dilemma of limited green space, A growing awareness of increasing and improving green space was emphasized in the cities of western and central China. Our results could provide valuable implications for research of the relationship between urban green space and economic development, urban ecological planning and economic development planning.