Does High Speed Rail Really Promote Economic Growth Evidence From Chinas Yangtze River Delta Region

High-speed rail (HSR) has led to a transportation revolution in China. This paper uses county-level panel data of China's Yangtze River region to investigate the effect of connecting to an HSR line on local economy. To address the issue of endogenous HSR route placement, we employ a straight-line strategy to construct potential HSR connection variables as instrumental variables of the actual HSR connection. Both the difference-in-differences and instrumental variable methods show that connecting to HSR impedes local economy, especially in peripheral regions. The impediment effect is channelled through population reallocation from peripheral to core areas and the restructuring of industries. Our results indicate that the polarization effects of HSR outweigh its dispersion effects, consistent with the new economic geography theory.

High-speed rail (HSR) has led to a transportation revolution in China. This paper uses the county-level panel data of China's Yangtze River Delta to investigate the effect of HSR connection on local economy. To address the issue of endogenous HSR route placement, we use a straight-line strategy to construct potential HSR connection variables as instrumental variables of the actual HSR connection. Both the difference-in-differences and instrumental variable methods show that HSR connection impedes local economy, especially in peripheral regions. The impediment effect is channeled through population reallocation from peripheral to core areas and the restructuring of industries.

Zusammenfassung: This book summarizes the quantitative research methods related to the social benefits of high-speed rails. It also explores the political, economic, technological, social and environmental impacts of high-speed rails. As China's new national business card, high-speed railways not only reflect the advanced technology of Chinese railways but also reflect China's increasing comprehensive national power. The highlight of the book is to conduct multidimensional analysis of the social benefits of the high-speed rail with a focus of spatiotemporal economics analysis

Transportation has long been shown to produce real impacts on productivity, urbanization, and economic growth, among others, companying with which innovation might take place. However, extant literature provides limited evidence on the companion innovation hypothesis of transportation improvement. The fast rollout of high-speed rail (HSR) in China is explored as a natural experiment to identify that hypothesis by matching it with three waves of innovation surveys on manufacturing firms from the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, China's two most developed regions. The empirical results, obtained using the difference in differences method, show that HSR connection promotes firm innovation in peripheral areas, which are larger in the Yangtze River Delta, which increases over time but switches from process innovation to product innovation and stands under various robustness checks. Further studies show that HSR connection promotes innovation by arousing entrepreneurs' recognition of the importance of innovation and property rights protection, opening new sources for innovation and bringing about market size effects.

Shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Best Book of the Year Award in 2011 “A masterpiece.” —Steven D. Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics “Bursting with insights.” —The New York Times Book Review A pioneering urban economist presents a myth-shattering look at the majesty and greatness of cities America is an urban nation, yet cities get a bad rap: they're dirty, poor, unhealthy, environmentally unfriendly . . . or are they? In this revelatory book, Edward Glaeser, a leading urban economist, declares that cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in both cultural and economic terms) places to live. He travels through history and around the globe to reveal the hidden workings of cities and how they bring out the best in humankind. Using intrepid reportage, keen analysis, and cogent argument, Glaeser makes an urgent, eloquent case for the city's importance and splendor, offering inspiring proof that the city is humanity's greatest creation and our best hope for the future.

This book systematically investigates the strategic significance and dynamic mechanisms present in the development of the Yangtze River Delta cluster, one of the major drivers of economic growth in China. The Yangtze River Delta is the most densely populated region in China, with the highest level of economic development. Against the background of China’s national strategy that aims to bolster and augment integrated development on the regional level, this study reviews the development process of the region and possible hindrances to further growth. From a wide array of dimensions, it assesses the key influencing factors, including institutional construction, governance mechanisms, spatial layout, government and corporate competition, the market environment, industrial linkages and synergies, collaborative innovation, public service, and social networks. Based on theoretical analysis and empirical studies, the book advances policy suggestions that help to solve the challenges for integrated development in the region. The volume will benefit scholars and students, as well as investors, business observers, and policy makers interested in the Chinese economy, regional economics, industrial economics, and economic geography.

Over the past decade, China has built 25,000 km of dedicated highspeed railway—more than the rest of the world combined. What can we learn from this remarkable experience? China’s High-Speed Rail Development examines the Chinese experience to draw lessons for countries considering investing in high-speed rail. The report scrutinizes the planning and delivery mechanisms that enabled the rapid construction of the high-speed rail system. It highlights the role of long-term planning, consistent plan execution, and a joint venture structure that ensures active participation of provincial and local governments in project planning and financing. Traffic on China’s high-speed trains has grown to 1.7 billion passengers a year. The study examines the characteristics of the markets for which high-speed rail is competitive in China. It discusses the pricing and service design considerations that go into making high-speed rail services competitive with other modes and factors such as good urban connectivity that make the service attractive to customers. One of the most remarkable aspects of the Chinese experience is the rapid pace of high-quality construction. The report looks at the role of strong capacity development within and cooperation among China Railway Corporation, rail manufacturers, universities, research institutions, laboratories, and engineering centers that allowed for rapid technological advancement and localization of technology. It describes the project delivery structures and incentives for delivering quality and timely results. Finally, the report analyzes the financial and economic sustainability of the investment in high-speed rail. It finds that a developing country can price high-speed rail services affordably and still achieve financial viability, but this requires very high passenger density. Economic viability similarly depends on high passenger density.

The book is a comprehensive study of the strategic position of Yangtze River Economic Belt in the political and economic development of China. It is a holistic and precise qualitative and quantitative delineation of Jiangsu’s position in this belt and its development strategy, and the strategic position of Yangtze River Economic Belt in national development. It also illustrates the great significance of the initiation of Yangtze River Economic Belt for the economy, politics, environment, and integration of natural resources. There is a research of the position of Jiangsu in the construction of the nation, and the difficulties it has encountered. Coordinated and balanced development of Yangtze River Economic Belt will effectively facilitate reasonable allocation and exploitation of various resources, the implementation of other national strategies, and communication and cooperation between China and Western countries, enhancing their mutual understanding. Therefore, common readers can get some general information from different perspectives, and professionals can have a detailed understanding of different arrangements and guiding principles. It is thus suitable for different readers.Yangtze River Economic Belt runs through the three regions of China, making a vital latitudinal axis, whose coordinated and balanced development is of great strategic importance for promoting coordinated and shared development of the three regions and for the spatial balance of population, economy and the environment. The current imbalance between them, the absolute disparity in regional development, the obstruction in the flow of resource factors, the inequality in development opportunities, the incoordination between regional economic growth and the bearing capacity of resources and environment, the fragmentation of regional economic policies, all contribute to the insufficient utilization of the Golden Waterway, problems numerous. How coordinated and balanced development can be realized within this economic belt is a prominent and pressing, even a severe problem.

This is the first English book that presents a professional analysis of the recent dynamic movement of the Chinese economy by focusing on the Yangtze River Delta region, which is the main engine of the Chinese economy. The impact of the international financial crisis on China’s economic development requires a change from the first wave of economic globalization oriented toward exports to the second wave of economic globalization characterized by expanding domestic demand. Taking this economic aspect into consideration, the following are proposed in this book: 1) expansion of the level of openness in the process of increasing domestic demand means shifting the industrial focus from manufacturing to the service industry; 2) promotion of the globalization of local services should be based on the globalization of local manufacturing; 3) the Yangtze River Delta region should aim at its own strategic positioning under new, changed circumstances and should achieve modernization in advance with the concept of integrative development; 4) Establishment of a support system is essential meanwhile for this area to develop an innovative economy and to promote the transition from manufacturing to promoting emerging industries, including a modern service industry. The book has an underlying concept, namely, that the key to economic transformation is to start the development of modern services and that only by transforming the development pattern of the service industry can the transition and upgrade of the economy be effectively achieved. For this purpose further urbanization and advancing the transformation from low-tech to high-tech industries by the effective development of industrial clusters is advocated. To ensure that these conclusions are based on a solid analysis, the authors draw heavily upon empirical analyses employing modern econometric methods and make use of economic theories such as endogenous growth theory and spatial economic theory.

Presenting an analytical approach to assessing the socioeconomic impact of high speed rail in China, and using a multilevel spatial analysis approach at both the national and the regional level, this book emphasizes capturing the spatial spillover effects of rail infrastructure development on China’s economic geography in terms of land use, housing market, tourism, regional disparity, modal competition, the economy and environment.