Transportation Infrastructure Quality Effect on Economic Growth: Evidence from the China Railway Speed-Up Campaigns*

Zhou Hao and Zheng Xiaoting
Institute of Industrial Economics, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
Abstract: Beginning in 1997, China implemented a six-round campaign to accelerate train service, known as the “ China Railway Speed-Up Campaign”, which greatly increased railway capacity and improved the quality of rail facilities. This can be seen as a natural experiment of the effects of improving the quality of transportation infrastructure. Using the Beijing Guangzhou Line and the Beijing-Shanghai Line as examples, this paper creates city-level panel data for stations along accelerated lines and traditional stations for the years between 1994 and 2006 and systematically examines the campaign’s effect on economic growth using difference-in-difference (DID) methodology. Our research concludes that railway acceleration has promoted economic growth in cities with stations on upgraded rail lines. Over the entireperiod of the speed-up campaign, the per capita GDP growth rate has risen by 3.7 percentage points in cities with upgraded stations versus cities with traditional stations. Moreover, positive effects on economic growth have been found to increase in later stages of railway upgrades.
Key words: economic growth, railway acceleration, difference-in-difference (DID)methodology

¥0.01加入购物车