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Using the panel data of 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2014, this paper examines the effects of high-speed rail opening on health care environment based on Difference-in-Differences method (DID). Through an empirical analysis, the results proved that high-speed rail opening can significantly promote the health care environment and this effect is different in regions with different levels of economic development. Finally, we tested the mechanisms of how the high-speed rail opening affects the healthcare environment. High-speed rail opening improves the healthcare environment by increasing road accessibility and promoting economic development. Our results support the view that high-speed rail opening has an important contribution to the improvement of health care conditions.

This study explored the impact of government-led high-standard farmland construction (HSFC) on market-oriented farmland transfer using a unified analysis framework of HSFC and farmland transfers. We used a binary probit model based on 660 questionnaires from five counties in Shandong Province, China to empirically analyze this impact. The results show that HSFC can significantly promote farmland lease-in while inhibiting lease-out. We found that farmland fragmentation plays a significant role in moderating this impact, which is illustrated by the fact that improved farmland fragmentation does not promote HSFC in the context of farmland lease-in. Furthermore, it can effectively alleviate the inhibitory effect of HSFC on farmland lease-out. The impact of HSFC on farmland transfer has significant labor transfer heterogeneity. For households with a low degree of labor transfer, HSFC can significantly promote farmland lease-in and inhibit lease-out, while for households with a high degree of labor transfer, the above effect is not significant.

Considering the importance of technology for industrial structure upgrading, especially under the impetus of the fourth industrial revolution, the paper examines the impact of technology importation on industrial structure upgrading in 31 Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2020. It also emphasises the moderating role of institutional environment based on two dimensions of industrial upgrading. The findings indicate that technology importation has a positive effect on industrial advancement; however, its impact on industrial rationalisation is not significant. A higher-quality institutional environment can indirectly contribute to the impact of technology importation on industrial upgrading. Finally, the effects of technology importation and institutional environment on industrial upgrading vary with regions, and there are also differences in the moderating effects of different aspects of institutional quality. Therefore, the article suggests that technology should be introduced according to the institutional environment of different regions, and the government should develop personalised industrial upgrading strategies. JEL Classification O33, O14, L16