The Empirical Study On The Role Of Transport Infrastructure In Regional Economy Of China

This paper provides empirical evidence on the links between transport infrastructuresand economic growth in China. Using data from a sample of 30 Chinese provinces(excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, also Tibet because of missing data) in theyear 2004, the estimation of model shows that, besides differences in terms ofgeographical location, reforms and openness, transport infrastructures do accountsignificantly for observed differences in economic performance across provinces. Theresults show that transport infrastructure is both statistically significant and positivelycorrelated to regional economic growth in real GDP per capita in China. The resultfurther indicates that transport infrastructure is a key differentiating factor inexplaining the growth gap between east and west in China and the lagged-behindtransport infrastructure has already become a bottleneck to the economy of westernChina.