Does High-Speed Railway Promote the Level of Human Capital? An Empirical Analysis Based on Three Urban Agglomerations in China

Abstract

This paper analyzed the impact of high-speed railway (HSR) construction on human capital and its mechanism by establishing high-speed railway-city level panel data from 2003 to 2019 and constructing a multiperiod difference- in-differences (DID) DID model in China. The results showed that HSR has significantly promoted the level of human capital in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration, Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, and Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration in China, with the overall effect value of 20.8%. The conclusion that HSR promotes the level of human capital is still valid through endogenous treatment of the instrumental variable method and robustness test. Further analysis showed that the impact of HSR construction on the level of human capital in urban agglomerations is mainly through the labor mobility and education investment potential, with the effect values of 3.65% and 4.44%, respectively. The findings of this paper highlight the importance of exploiting the external utility of HSR, improving the level of regional human capital, and promoting high-quality economic development of urban agglomerations.