IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v125y2022icp312-322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Time is money: Impact of China-Europe Railway Express on the export of laptop products from Chongqing to Europe

Author

Listed:
  • He, Peiming
  • Zhang, Jiaming
  • Chen, Litai

Abstract

Transport time is valuable in international trade, especially for relatively high value-to-weight products. The China Railway Express (CRE) can be viewed as an outcome of a policy aimed at reducing transport time. This study focused on CRE's transport time reduction and its policy effect on international trade. Based on a special case examining the early stage of the Chongqing-Sinkiang-Europe Railway Express (CSERE), we adopted a synthetic control method (SCM) to investigate the extent of the effect of transport time reduction on the export of high value goods. We found that opening the CSERE led to an improvement of almost USD 23.18 billion of laptop exports from Chongqing to Europe in the first three years. The results showed the considerable value of the transport time reduction and the potentially vast bilateral trade flow between China and Europe that could be created by CRE. Our analysis also explored the micro mechanism of such effect. Only when the saved time costs cover the extra expense compared with ocean-borne cargo could CRE be a profitable choice for exporters and thus create new trade. Our findings offer insight for operators of CRE and local governments: matching and attracting the transport demand of suitable goods are key to successful market-oriented operation.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Peiming & Zhang, Jiaming & Chen, Litai, 2022. "Time is money: Impact of China-Europe Railway Express on the export of laptop products from Chongqing to Europe," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 312-322.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:125:y:2022:i:c:p:312-322
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2022.06.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X22001755
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2022.06.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lian, Feng & He, Yunzhu & Yang, Zhongzhen, 2020. "Competitiveness of the China-Europe Railway Express and liner shipping under the enforced sulfur emission control convention," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    2. Dave Donaldson, 2018. "Railroads of the Raj: Estimating the Impact of Transportation Infrastructure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 899-934, April.
    3. Redding, Stephen J. & Turner, Matthew A., 2015. "Transportation Costs and the Spatial Organization of Economic Activity," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1339-1398, Elsevier.
    4. Li, Qinglin & Rezaei, Jafar & Tavasszy, Lori & Wiegmans, Bart & Guo, Jingwei & Tang, Yinying & Peng, Qiyuan, 2020. "Customers’ preferences for freight service attributes of China Railway Express," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 225-236.
    5. Alicia Garcia Herrero & Jianwei Xu, 2017. "China's Belt and Road Initiative: Can Europe Expect Trade Gains?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 25(6), pages 84-99, November.
    6. Dmitry Arkhangelsky & Susan Athey & David A. Hirshberg & Guido W. Imbens & Stefan Wager, 2021. "Synthetic Difference-in-Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(12), pages 4088-4118, December.
    7. Alberto Abadie & Javier Gardeazabal, 2003. "The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 113-132, March.
    8. Li, Wenchao, 2019. "Time barrier to export for OECD countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 106-112.
    9. José Ansón & Jean‐François Arvis & Mauro Boffa & Matthias Helble & Ben Shepherd, 2020. "Time, uncertainty and trade flows," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(9), pages 2375-2392, September.
    10. David L. Hummels & Georg Schaur, 2013. "Time as a Trade Barrier," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(7), pages 2935-2959, December.
    11. Liu, Xiaoyun & Xin, Xian, 2011. "Transportation uncertainty and international trade," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 156-162, January.
    12. Li, Xiaolong & Wu, Zongfa & Zhao, Xingchen, 2020. "Economic effect and its disparity of high speed rail in China: A study of mechanism based on synthesis control method," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 262-274.
    13. Zheng, Yunhan & Moody, Joanna & Wang, Shenhao & Zhao, Jinhua, 2021. "Measuring policy leakage of Beijing’s car ownership restriction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 223-236.
    14. Susan Athey & Guido W. Imbens, 2017. "The State of Applied Econometrics: Causality and Policy Evaluation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 3-32, Spring.
    15. Zhang, Xu & Zhang, Wei & Lee, Paul Tae-Woo, 2020. "Importance rankings of nodes in the China Railway Express network under the Belt and Road Initiative," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 134-147.
    16. Kundu, Tanmoy & Sheu, Jiuh-Biing, 2019. "Analyzing the effect of government subsidy on shippers’ mode switching behavior in the Belt and Road strategic context," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 175-202.
    17. Carolyn L. Evans & James Harrigan, 2005. "Distance, Time, and Specialization: Lean Retailing in General Equilibrium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 292-313, March.
    18. Yang, Zhongzhen & Sun, Yu & Lee, Paul Tae-Woo, 2020. "Impact of the development of the China-Europe Railway Express – A case on the Chongqing international logistics center," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 244-261.
    19. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    20. Alberto Abadie & Alexis Diamond & Jens Hainmueller, 2015. "Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(2), pages 495-510, February.
    21. Xin, Mengwei & Shalaby, Amer & Feng, Shumin & Zhao, Hu, 2021. "Impacts of COVID-19 on urban rail transit ridership using the Synthetic Control Method," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1-16.
    22. Jiang, Yonglei & Liao, Feixiong & Jin, Lianjie, 2021. "Effects of locational accessibility on firm diffusion characteristics: The case of Sino-Europe Economic Corridor," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 80-93.
    23. Alberto Abadie, 2021. "Using Synthetic Controls: Feasibility, Data Requirements, and Methodological Aspects," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 391-425, June.
    24. Horag Choi & Julio Mancuso & Christis G. Tombazos, 2021. "Trade facilitation in the presence of non‐independent impediments," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(9), pages 2604-2637, September.
    25. Jiang, Yonglei & Sheu, Jiuh-Biing & Peng, Zixuan & Yu, Bin, 2018. "Hinterland patterns of China Railway (CR) express in China under the Belt and Road Initiative: A preliminary analysis," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 189-201.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Jiaguo & Meng, Hui, 2024. "Can China railway express enhance the economic-trade vitality of cities? A spatial empirical evidence from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 121-138.
    2. Wei Zou & Jiaqi Feng, 2024. "International Transportation Infrastructure and China Enterprises Green Innovation: Evidence from the China Railway Express," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-22, September.
    3. Zhang, Yilin & Zhang, Anming & Wang, Kun & Zheng, Shiyuan & Yang, Hangjun & Hong, Junjie, 2023. "Impact of CR Express and intermodal freight transport competition on China-Europe Route: Emission and welfare implications," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    4. Zhu, Siying & Jia, Shuai & Sun, Qinghe & Meng, Qiang, 2023. "An empirical study of China–Singapore International Land–Sea Trade Corridor: Analysis from supply and demand sides," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 1-10.
    5. Li, Xitong & He, Peiming & Liao, Honglin & Liu, Jindan & Chen, Litai, 2024. "Does network infrastructure construction reduce urban–rural income inequality? Based on the “Broadband China” policy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    6. He, Peiming & Zhang, Jiaming & Xu, Xuelu & Lin, Chuan & Chen, Litai, 2024. "Unintended environmental gains: The impact of China–Europe Railway Express on carbon dioxide emissions in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 127-140.
    7. Elżbieta Szaruga & Elżbieta Załoga & Arkadiusz Drewnowski & Paulina Dąbrosz-Drewnowska, 2023. "Convergence of Energy Intensity of the Export of Goods by Rail Transport: Linkages with the Spatial Integration and Economic Condition of Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-24, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. He, Peiming & Tian, Xingyue & Zhang, Jiaming & Yu, Siyu & Li, Shiyu & Lin, Chuan & Chen, Litai & Qian, Lei, 2024. "Can the China–Europe Railway Express reduce carbon dioxide emissions? New mechanism of the manufacturing industry substitution effect," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1384-1405.
    2. Dennis Shen & Peng Ding & Jasjeet Sekhon & Bin Yu, 2022. "Same Root Different Leaves: Time Series and Cross-Sectional Methods in Panel Data," Papers 2207.14481, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.
    3. Pekka Malo & Juha Eskelinen & Xun Zhou & Timo Kuosmanen, 2024. "Computing Synthetic Controls Using Bilevel Optimization," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 64(2), pages 1113-1136, August.
    4. Stefano, Roberta di & Mellace, Giovanni, 2020. "The inclusive synthetic control method," Discussion Papers on Economics 14/2020, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    5. David Gilchrist & Thomas Emery & Nuno Garoupa & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Synthetic Control Method: A tool for comparative case studies in economic history," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 409-445, April.
    6. Roy Cerqueti & Raffaella Coppier & Alessandro Girardi & Marco Ventura, 2022. "The sooner the better: lives saved by the lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak. The case of Italy," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 25(1), pages 46-70.
    7. Campos, Nauro F. & Coricelli, Fabrizio & Franceschi, Emanuele, 2022. "Institutional integration and productivity growth: Evidence from the 1995 enlargement of the European Union," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    8. Wallimann, Hannes & Blättler, Kevin & von Arx, Widar, 2023. "Do price reductions attract customers in urban public transport? A synthetic control approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    9. Gong, Xu & Li, Zhi-Chun, 2022. "Determination of subsidy and emission control coverage under competition and cooperation of China-Europe Railway Express and liner shipping," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 323-335.
    10. Echevarría, Cruz A. & Hasancebi, Serhat & García-Enríquez, Javier, 2022. "Economic Effects of Macao’s Integration with Mainland China: A Causal Inference Study," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 37(2), pages 179-215.
    11. Manuel Funke & Moritz Schularick & Christoph Trebesch, 2023. "Populist Leaders and the Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(12), pages 3249-3288, December.
    12. Sadeghi, Ali & Kibler, Ewald, 2022. "Do bankruptcy laws matter for entrepreneurship? A Synthetic Control Method analysis of a bankruptcy reform in Finland," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    13. Pavlik, Jamie Bologna & Jahan, Israt & Young, Andrew T., 2023. "Do longer constitutions corrupt?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    14. Robert Messerle & Jonas Schreyögg, 2024. "Country-level effects of diagnosis-related groups: evidence from Germany’s comprehensive reform of hospital payments," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 25(6), pages 1013-1030, August.
    15. Michael Funke & Kadri Männasoo & Helery Tasane, 2023. "Regional Economic Impacts of the Øresund Cross-Border Fixed Link: Cui Bono?," CESifo Working Paper Series 10557, CESifo.
    16. Robert Kraemer & Jonne Lehtimäki, 2024. "Government debt, European Institutions and fiscal rules: a synthetic control approach," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(4), pages 1112-1157, August.
    17. Emiliano Toni & Pablo Paniagua & Patricio 'Ordenes, 2024. "Policy Changes and Growth Slowdown: Assessing the Lost Decade of the Latin American Miracle," Papers 2407.02003, arXiv.org.
    18. Tomasz Serwach, 2023. "The European Union and within‐country income inequalities. The case of the new member states," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1890-1939, July.
    19. Tomasz Serwach, 2022. "The European Union and within-country income inequalities. The case of the New Member States," Working Papers hal-03548416, HAL.
    20. Gabriel, Ricardo Duque & Pessoa, Ana Sofia, 2024. "Adopting the euro: A synthetic control approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:125:y:2022:i:c:p:312-322. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.