No difference in effect of high-speed rail on regional economic growth based on match effect perspective?

Abstract

This study constructs a market area evolution model from the perspective of economic subject and location matching under the hypothesis of non-homogeneous space. It is proved that transportation development can reduce transport costs, which is closely related to location factor endowments. As such, we believe that when analyse the economic impact of new means of transportation, both overall analysis and different line analysis should be taken into account. Therefore, the economic impact of high-speed rail were studied by DID and PSM-DID methods. The results show that China's high-speed rail construction has a positive effect on economic growth and will become an important force in reshaping the organization of China’s spatial economy. However, the effect is different for different high-speed rail lines. Thus, Chinese government needs to fully consider the economic impact of high-speed rail. In addition, the government needs to formulate a high-speed rail economic belt plan in accordance with the characteristics of different rail lines. Furthermore, China needs to adjust its regional development strategy and regional policies accordingly, because the role of high-speed rail is mainly depends on whether a location has the necessary conditions to achieve the desired effect. Therefore, a city should adjust and recombine the local factor endowment to align with high-speed rail if it wants to capitalize on the new high-speed rail. Otherwise, the introduction of high-speed rail likely to adversely impact economic growth, which make the city a peripheral city.