The distributional impacts of high speed rail: evidence from China
This paper develops a spatial general equilibrium framework to study the distributional impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) construction. HSR does not directly lower the trade costs but lowers the travel costs among cities. This encourages firms to gain larger market share in the destination city, and...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177956 |
| _version_ | 1811677058018836480 |
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| author | Li, Xiaolu Tang, Yang |
| author2 | School of Social Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Social Sciences Li, Xiaolu Tang, Yang |
| author_sort | Li, Xiaolu |
| collection | NTU |
| description | This paper develops a spatial general equilibrium framework to study the distributional impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) construction. HSR does not directly lower the trade costs but lowers the travel costs among cities. This encourages firms to gain larger market share in the destination city, and export to more distant markets. We estimate the matrix of travel costs among 279 prefectural-level Chinese cities by taking into account the real world geography. The model is calibrated to the Chinese economy to match stylized facts since 2005. We show that the improvements of passenger networks lead to higher inter-regional trade and increase the total real income by 3:07 percent. The cities unconnected to HSR are also found to enjoy income gain from the HSR construction. HSR construction directs more people to work in the inland region. Both labor mobility and international trade serve to amplify the income growth from HSR construction. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T02:31:19Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/177956 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T02:31:19Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1779562024-06-03T07:04:08Z The distributional impacts of high speed rail: evidence from China Li, Xiaolu Tang, Yang School of Social Sciences Social Sciences High speed rail Regional trade This paper develops a spatial general equilibrium framework to study the distributional impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) construction. HSR does not directly lower the trade costs but lowers the travel costs among cities. This encourages firms to gain larger market share in the destination city, and export to more distant markets. We estimate the matrix of travel costs among 279 prefectural-level Chinese cities by taking into account the real world geography. The model is calibrated to the Chinese economy to match stylized facts since 2005. We show that the improvements of passenger networks lead to higher inter-regional trade and increase the total real income by 3:07 percent. The cities unconnected to HSR are also found to enjoy income gain from the HSR construction. HSR construction directs more people to work in the inland region. Both labor mobility and international trade serve to amplify the income growth from HSR construction. Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72203109) is greatly acknowledged. The usual disclaimer applies. 2024-06-03T07:04:08Z 2024-06-03T07:04:08Z 2024 Journal Article Li, X. & Tang, Y. (2024). The distributional impacts of high speed rail: evidence from China. Economic Modelling, 132, 106640-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106640 0264-9993 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177956 10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106640 2-s2.0-85182683976 132 106640 en Economic Modelling © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Social Sciences High speed rail Regional trade Li, Xiaolu Tang, Yang The distributional impacts of high speed rail: evidence from China |
| title | The distributional impacts of high speed rail: evidence from China |
| title_full | The distributional impacts of high speed rail: evidence from China |
| title_fullStr | The distributional impacts of high speed rail: evidence from China |
| title_full_unstemmed | The distributional impacts of high speed rail: evidence from China |
| title_short | The distributional impacts of high speed rail: evidence from China |
| title_sort | distributional impacts of high speed rail evidence from china |
| topic | Social Sciences High speed rail Regional trade |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177956 |
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