Estimating the economic benefits of high-speed rail in China: A new perspective from the connectivity improvement

Abstract

This paper evaluates the economic benefits of high-speed rail (HSR) in China, with a focus on the connectivity change resulting from HSR development. The effect of HSR, measured in degree centrality, is assessed using a spatial econometric modeling technique based on a panel dataset that covers 268 Chinese cities from 2008-2015. To provide a robust assessment, statistical issues including heterogeneous effects, endogeneity, and spatial dependence are addressed simultaneously in the spatial panel modeling process. Our empirical results confirm that connectivity improvement brought by HSR plays a vital role in facilitating economic growth. Specifically, the contribution of HSR to urban economic growth is found to be 0.11, most of which comes from a local effect rather than a spillover effect. Overall, the research findings suggest that urban economic growth can benefit from the development of HSR.

Economic growth, transport accessibility and regional equity impacts of high-speed railways in Italy: ten years ex post evaluation and future perspectives

“…In applications to HSR case studies (e.g. Sun and Mansury, 2016 , Chen et al, 2017 , Li et al, 2018 , Lin et al, 2018 , Meng et al, 2018 , Chong et al, 2019 ), the independent variables have been be grouped into three macro categories: i) economic variables (e.g. industrial production, value of investments in the transport sector, annual volume of passengers/goods, ii) territorial variables (e.g.…”

“…Furthermore, several authors (e.g. Sun and Mansury, 2016 , Chen et al, 2017 , Jiao et al, 2017 , Li et al, 2018 , Lin et al, 2018 , Meng et al, 2018 , Chong et al, 2019 ) have linked the economic development to specific HSR variables (e.g. HSR travel time, frequency, access to station travel time), also in less extreme situations assuming that this transport infrastructure has the potential of affecting economic growth more than other (partial) investments at the national scale.…”

Economic impact of transportation infrastructure investment under the Belt and Road Initiative

“…Traditionally, the role of infrastructure in economic growth and regional development was evaluated through the change of connectivity and accessibility of the markets as a response to infrastructure development (Lall 2007;Francois and Manchin 2013;Chong et al 2019). Moreover, the improvement of infrastructure quality is likely to improve not only the productivity of existing firms, but it may also facilitate the formation of new firms (Puga 2002).…”

High-Speed Rail Network Expansion and Its Impact on Regional Economic Sustainability in the Yangtze River Delta, China, 2009–2018

“…HSR has become an important factor in the rapid development of Chinese cities and a key driving force for major changes in the spatial pattern and industrial structure of Chinese cities and regions. The changes are expected to continue in the future [5]. The national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network planning outline proposes that by 2035, a modern and high-quality comprehensive national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network that is convenient, smooth, cost-effective, green, intensive, intelligent, advanced, safe and reliable will be basically completed.…”