Analysis Of The Impact Of High-speed Railway Construction On Regional Economic Growth

The emergence and development of transportation is the basic element for the development and growth of regional social economy.And the emergence of high-speed railway has changed the transportation pattern and is considered as one of the factors of long-term national economic integration.It is also a catalyst for economic growth,and has brought tremendous economic effects to the economic,social and industrial structure of the region along the route.This article will use high-speed railway as a research object to systematically analyze the impact of its opening and operation on regional economic growth in China,and put forward relevant policy recommendations for the development of high-speed railway and regional economy in China.Firstly,we introduced the development background of China's high-speed railway construction and the economic advantages of high-speed railway.Then based on the classical model theory of high-speed railway construction and regional economic development,we analyzed the mechanisms of action and summed up four economic effects of high-speed railway construction on regional economic development,including co-urbanization effects,agglomeration effects,diffusion effects,and siphon effects.Finally,according to the panel data of 283 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2015,a dual individual fixed effect model was established to empirically test the impact brought by the construction of high-speed railways from the perspective of the quantity,speed,and structure of economic growth.And in accordance with the economic development of the city,regional heterogeneity was assessed by the classification of economic level and geographical location factors.The regression results indicate that the opening of the high-speed rail has a significant positive effect on the total GDP of the corresponding region.It is conducive to the improvement of the tertiary industry concentration level in the region and significantly promotes the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure of the city.In the assessment of heterogeneity,there are differences in the economic effects and structural effects of high-speed railway on different cities,and the convergence of economic growth rates in various regions is conducive to narrowing the gap in economic growth rates between regions and balancing the development of economic levels across the country.From the perspective of economic development level,the opening of high-speed railways has reduced the level of industrial agglomeration in developed regions,resulting in proliferation effect,while the degree of agglomeration of tertiary industries and industrial upgrading index in middle economic regions have been significantly improved.From the perspective of traditional geographical location,the opening of high-speed railways has played a more active role in industrial agglomeration and upgrading of industrial structure in the central and eastern regions,but it has failed to bring significant economic and industrial structural effects to western cities.The construction of high-speed railways in the western region is still in its infancy and needs to continue.We will learn from the experience of high-speed railway construction in the eastern part of the country in order to better share the benefits of the high-speed railway era.Based on the analysis above,we put forward some suggestions for high-speed railway construction and provide empirical references for relying on the construction effects of high-speed railway to promote the healthy and balanced development of China's regional economy.