Abstract
Studying the impact of the high-speed railway (HSR) on economic growth has important practical significance and can provide a theoretical basis for government investment in infrastructure. In this study, the adoption of HSR was used for natural and rigorous exploration. Based on the panel data on counties in Hubei Province of China from 2001 to 2017, a synthetic control method was used to analyse the impact of HSR on the economic growth of county-level areas with different economic bases. The results showed that HSR had different influences on the economic development of county-level cities with different economic bases in the short term. The Wuhan-Guangzhou HSR had significantly promoted the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of Chibi City with a good economic foundation. The robustness test results revealed that the promoting effect was significant at a level of 3.7%. The Hefei-Wuhan section of the Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu HSR had significantly inhibited the GDP growth of Hong’an County by developing on a weak economic foundation. The robustness test results revealed that the inhibitory effect was significant at the level of 2.8%. However, the Hefei-Wuhan section had a stable and promoting effect on Macheng City. Based on the abovementioned conclusions, each county-level city should focus on long-term economic development, invest in HSR construction based on local conditions instead of blind expansion, make use of HSR to vigorously develop characteristic industries, and implement talent retention and introduction policies.
Highlights
high-speed railway (HSR) has a profound impact on economic development
Will HSR drive the economic development of the surrounding areas to achieve regional coordinated development? With the improvement of the HSR network, more counties have been included in the layout of the construction of HSR stations and the orderly development of the county economy is a prerequisite for the coordinated development of the overall regional economy
In this study, the synthetic control method was used to analyse the impact of HSR on the economic growth of the county, which provides strong evidence that this method can be used in the study of “HSR economic effects.” is study selects the county panel data of Hubei Province from 2001 to 2018, and the synthetic control method was used to test the impact of the WuhanGuangzhou HSR and Hefei-Wuhan section of the ShanghaiWuhan-Chengdu railway on the county’s economic development
Summary
Researchers mainly hold the following views on the relationship between HSR and regional economic development. E opening of HSR has accelerated the flow of economic elements and promoted industrial agglomeration in cities along the railway line. Zhang found that HSR will speed up the flow speed of economic elements between regions, which is conducive to the agglomeration effect of economic elements in cities along the line and promotes the formation of industrial agglomeration in cities along the line [29]. Most of the previous studies of the impact of HSR on economic growth are based on panel data of provinces or cities [46], while panel data of county-level areas are less commonly used. Erefore, in this study, using the HSR in Hubei Province of China as the research object, the synthetic control method was adopted to analyse the impact of the HSR on the economic development of county-level areas with different economic bases
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