Abstract
Does the development of a high-speed railway (HSR) have a significant impact on the equalization of medical and health resources allocated among cities? Based on the panel data of 67 cities in China from 2007 to 2016, this paper investigates the direct and dynamic effects of HSR development on the equalization of medical and health services by using the difference-in-differences (DID) method. The empirical results show that an HSR connection significantly reduces the equalization level of medical and health services in cities and that the effect is larger for the period from the year of the connection to the second year. However, in the long term, HSR development improves the equalization level of medical and health services in cities. Heterogeneity tests show that the effect of the HSR connection shows an “N”-shaped trend under different city scales, the equalization level of medical resources in the largest cities benefit the most from HSR development, and the Eastern and Western regions of China are more sensitive to the HSR connection. While the allocation of medical resources is in the direction of equalization, the level of medical resources is significantly more equal with the HSR development in cities with stronger financial capacity and non-core cities. The analysis of other city characteristics provides policy recommendations for improving the public services delivery mode in China’s heterogeneous cities in terms of HSR development.
Highlights
As one of the basic elements of human production and life, transportation infrastructure is the link between socioeconomic activities and geographical space
Before conducting the empirical tests, we used the coefficient of variation (CV) to measure the difference in the average annual equalization of medical and health services (A-Medi) between the treatment group and the control group and to test whether high-speed railway (HSR) development has promoted the equalization of medical and health services of cities [51]
This paper considers that these cities have more space and bearing capacity to carry inflowing population density and degree of agglomeration lead to a decline in the equalization of medical and populations that continue to migrate from rural areas and lower-level cities, so the increasing health services
Summary
As one of the basic elements of human production and life, transportation infrastructure is the link between socioeconomic activities and geographical space. The development of a high-speed railway (HSR) gives new meaning to transportation. In 1964, the Tokaido section of the “Shinkansen” in Japan, which has a speed of 210 km per hour, was opened to traffic, marking the birth of the first HSR in the traditional sense. HSR systems have been built and expanded in France, Germany, China, and other countries. Due to the rapid development of the HSR in China, the “Four. Vertical and Four Horizontal” rapid passenger transport network has basically taken shape. China has devoted itself to building an HSR network with “Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal” corridors based on this framework, regional connection lines, and supplementary intercity railways
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