Study About The Mechanism Between Nature Topography, Transportation Cost And Regional Economy Development In China

The difference of regional development is the object of attention in economics, and the scholars have explained it from the perspective of capital, institution, technology, culture and other factors. If the above mentioned development factors which are said to be liquid is the real cause of the differences in regional economic development, in that way, the liquidity will smooth out differences in the long term. But reality is not so, especially in China, the macro-spatial pattern of regional economic development has maintained nearly thousand years. It is geographical environment (an unique illiquid factor) that lead to the differences in regional economic development. As an important service department, transportation is the form of the impact of geographical environment on economic and social activities. Consequently, researching the relationship between geographical environment, transportation and regional development is a major basic work. From the angle of natural topography condition, we use input-output analysis regression analysis and spatial analysis, etc, systematically research the mechanism between natural topography condition, transportation cost and regional development. The research findings as below:The first:under different topographic conditions in China, transportation construction cost, operation cost and maintenance costs have great difference. For instance, the ratio of railway construction cost in the North China plain to that in the Jiangnan plain is 1:2; the ratio of transportation operation cost Caused by energy consumption in Coastal areas of China, in Central of China and in Western of China is 1:2.09:2.47. The second, influenced by transportation construction cost, operation cost and maintenance cost, transportation cost in the region are also quite different. If regard the transportation cost in coastal areas as a unit 1, the central and western regions respectively account for 1.15 and 1.53.The third, Driven by large-scale investment in transport infrastructure, the transportation cost undertake by China's national economy is increasing. High cost of transportation construction has become major problem that restrict the economic development. Large-scale investment in transport infrastructure makes these efforts futile, such as technological advances or integration of transportation. The fourth, under different topographic conditions, the transportation will produce different regional economic and social effects. Coastal transport routes generate great economic and social benefits, while the transport line in Central and western areas bring about low economic and social benefits.The fifth, affected by natural topographic conditions and distance of transport, China's economically active areas have transferred from the Central and Western regions to Coastal areas and from the Coastal areas to Inland areas. Since reform and opening-up, the Coastal areas has accessed to a rapid development owing to convenient location and low traffic-cost advantages. Later, with changes in trade patterns, the rapid growth of central City as well as large-scale development and utilization of the resource, the economic growth center began to move toward West and North.Based on the above research, we can drawl conclusion as follow:In order to reduce the difference of economic development among regions, regional government should develop different economic activities and control transportation cost based on nature topography. In other words, according to nature topography conditions, different region should adopt different type of economic development, construct the different transportation system. Only through above two main ways, they can reduce the burden of transportation regional economy development, induce the degree of nature topography's influence on the economy development, improve the efficiency of input-output economic activities, and promot the development of regional economy finally.