IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/inrsre/v47y2024i3p378-406.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transport Infrastructure, Intra-Regional Inequality and Urban-Rural Divide: Evidence From China’s High-Speed Rail Construction

Author

Listed:
  • Yan Xu
  • Shengjun Zhu

Abstract

While the impact of transport infrastructure on regional disparity has been widely examined, its effect on intra-regional inequality has received less attention. Based on panel data at China’s prefecture-city level during 2007–2018, we adopt the Difference-in-Differences model to investigate whether high-speed rail affects one type of intra-regional inequality, the urban-rural income gap. The results show that high-speed rail operation has widened the urban-rural income gap by boosting the agglomeration of population, financial capital, and economic activities in urban areas adjacent to high-speed rail stations. Furthermore, the effect varies across cities. The impact of high-speed rail on the urban-rural income gap is more evident in small and less developed cities due to the polarization effect. In contrast, this is not observed in large and developed cities. One possible reason is that, in the latter, the diffusion effect is much stronger.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan Xu & Shengjun Zhu, 2024. "Transport Infrastructure, Intra-Regional Inequality and Urban-Rural Divide: Evidence From China’s High-Speed Rail Construction," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 47(3), pages 378-406, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:inrsre:v:47:y:2024:i:3:p:378-406
    DOI: 10.1177/01600176231177672
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01600176231177672
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/01600176231177672?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John A. List & Craig A. Gallet, 1999. "The Kuznets Curve: What Happens After the Inverted‐U?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 200-206, June.
    2. Benjamin Faber, 2014. "Trade Integration, Market Size, and Industrialization: Evidence from China's National Trunk Highway System," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(3), pages 1046-1070.
    3. Gabriel M Ahlfeldt & Arne Feddersen, 2018. "From periphery to core: measuring agglomeration effects using high-speed rail," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 355-390.
    4. Wan, Guanghua & Lu, Ming & Chen, Zhao, 2006. "The inequality-growth nexus in the short and long run: Empirical evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 654-667, December.
    5. Zhiling Wang & Lu Chen, 2019. "Destination choices of Chinese rural–urban migrant workers: Jobs, amenities, and local spillovers," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 586-609, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Baek, Jisun & Park, WooRam, 2022. "The impact of improved passenger transport system on manufacturing plant productivity," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    2. Thisse, Jacques-François & Proost, Stef, 2015. "Skilled Cities, Regional Disparities, and Efficient Transport: The state of the art and a research agenda," CEPR Discussion Papers 10790, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Yoshifumi Konishi & Akari Ono, 2024. "Do Winners Win More from Transport Megaprojects? Evidence from the Great Seto Bridge in Japan," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2024-018, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    4. Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Keola, Souknilanh & Sudsawasd, Sasatra & Yamanouchi, Kenta, 2022. "Impacts of an international bridge on households: Evidence from Thailand," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Damiaan Persyn & Javier Barbero & Jorge Díaz‐Lanchas & Patrizio Lecca & Giovanni Mandras & Simone Salotti, 2023. "The ripple effects of large‐scale transport infrastructure investment," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 755-792, September.
    6. Branco, Catarina & Dohse, Dirk C. & Pereira dos Santos, João & Tavares, José, 2023. "Nobody’s gonna slow me down? The effects of a transportation cost shock on firm performance and behavior," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    7. Shao, Shuai & Tian, Zhihua & Yang, Lili, 2017. "High speed rail and urban service industry agglomeration: Evidence from China's Yangtze River Delta region," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 174-183.
    8. Yahong Liu & Daisheng Tang & Tao Bu & Xinyuan Wang, 2022. "The spatial employment effect of high-speed railway: quasi-natural experimental evidence from China," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 69(2), pages 333-359, October.
    9. Koster, Hans & Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2021. "High-speed Rail and the Spatial Distribution of Economic Activity: Evidence from Japan's Shinkansen," CEPR Discussion Papers 15771, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Nannan Yu & Tianhang Cui & Si Lv, 2023. "Does the High-Speed Rail Improve Employment in Peripheral Cities? Evidence From China’s Beijing–Shanghai HSR Line," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    11. Kang, Meiling & Li, Yucheng & Zhao, Zhongkuang & Song, Min & Yi, Jun, 2023. "Travel costs and inter-city collaborative innovation: Evidence of high-speed railway in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 286-302.
    12. Alfred Bauer & Florian Dorn & Luisa Dörr & Stefanie Gäbler & Manuela Krause & Martin Mosler & Christiaan Niemeijer & Horst Penzkofer & Niklas Potrafke, 2019. "Regional Economic Impact of Memmingen Airport on Tourism," ifo Forschungsberichte, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 100, July.
    13. Catarina Branco & Dirk C. Dohse & João Pereira Santos & José Tavares, 2022. "The impact of a rise in transportation costs on firm performance and behaviour," GEE Papers 0167, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Sep 2022.
    14. Marta Santagata, 2022. "Roads and intra‐national trade: Evidence from Italian regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(6), pages 1383-1409, December.
    15. Shujie Yao & Jing Fang & Hongbo He, 2020. "Can Time–Space Compression Promote Urban Economic Growth? Evidence from China's High‐speed Rail Projects," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 28(5), pages 90-117, September.
    16. Wei, Xiaokun & Ruan, Qingsong & Lv, Dayong & Wu, Youyi, 2022. "Transportation infrastructure and bond issuance credit spread: Evidence from the Chinese high-speed rail construction," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 30-47.
    17. Liu, Jingyang & Yang, Haoran, 2023. "Income allocation and distribution along with high-speed rail development in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    18. Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Tsubota, Kenmei, 2022. "The impact of highways on commodity prices: The price of butter in Japan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    19. Xiaoqian Liu & Han Li & Yongzhi Sun & Chang’an Wang, 2022. "High‐speed railway and urban productivity disparities," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 680-701, June.
    20. Ma, Liya & Niu, Dongxiao & Sun, Weizeng, 2021. "Transportation infrastructure and entrepreneurship: Evidence from high-speed railway in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(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:sae:inrsre:v:47:y:2024:i:3:p:378-406. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.